tick tick tick tock
by hopeforhoney-xo
Summary: everything since the lightning strike was a countdown to this moment - to now. MisfitsOC: primarily!Simon/OC some!Nathan/OC
1. Prologue

**Prologue: Convicted Felon**

Alexis knew she probably shouldn't but she couldn't help glaring up at the judge, arms crossed and amazingly perplexed at how someone so annoying managed to get such a high status job. The guy was obviously a Grade A wanker and the way he kept pausing for dramatic effect was just plain annoying; she wasn't planning on being here ever again, so really, this whole act of terror was a major failure. Could he not just get on with it?

The judge coughed, leaning forward and gazing at her steadily before starting to speak, "Now, I've decided to be rather _lenient _with your punishment due to several illuminating factors but you must remember - should you break the law in _any_ other way at _any_ other time, you will be back here so fast your head will spin. And there is no chance your sentence will be so relaxed again, young lady. I'm doing you a huge favour."

"Cheers." Alexis drawled, pursing her lips and rolling her eyes. She really could be doing without this joker's bullshit... she was a hardly a criminal.

His eyebrows knitted together in annoyance at her blatant disregard just before he brought his small hammer down.

"The defendant is charged with two hundred hours community service."

* * *

The community centre was a dump, community service itself seemed a joke and the people she was doing it with, including the probation worker, looked like a bunch of bloody idiots. She glanced at each of them from the corner of her eye as she leant against the railings outside the building, arms folded and already changed into her ugly orange jumpsuit.

Counting them off one by one, she almost smiled. Yep, your bunch of typical, young ASBO offenders: a chav, a gangsta, a silent creeper, a fallen runner, a pretty diva and an arrogant dickhead. Oh, and there was herself – a not-so typical (convicted felon) grammar school kid.

"This is it. This is your chance to do something positive, give something back. You can help people; you can really make a difference to people's lives. That's what community service is all about. There are people out there who think you're scum. You have an opportunity to show them they're wrong."

"Yeah, but what if they're right?"

Alexis couldn't help letting out a chuckle because the fact was, judging from appearances, with this curly-haired guy they probably _were_ right. He, however, grinned and glanced over at her, seemingly spurred on by what he must have thought of as amusement aimed with him, not at him. Retard.

"No offence, but I'm thinking some people are just born criminals." He started pointing to the gangsta on his right in what she could only imagine was his version of subtlety and a snort left her again.

"Ya lookin' to get stabbed?"

"You see my point there?"

The guy was, as much as it pained her to admit, hilarious in his stupidity. The girl to her left shot her a glare as Curly Boy shot her a lewd smile - and just as Curly Girl's mobile began ringing. Man, she needed to learn names ASAP or she was gonna have to think of some better nicknames. Either and or.

"Hi."

"It doesn't matter what you've done in the past-"

"-doing my community service."

"Hey!"

"Boring as fuck."

"Excuse me. Hello, I'm still talking here."

"What? I thought you'd finished."

Alexis rolled her eyes, feeling surprisingly sorry for the probation worker. Who the fuck would wanna work with a bunch of dicks _willingly_? Bless, the guy must have mental problems along with 'Fro Boy… and probably the weird looking kid at the end of the line.

"You see my lips still moving, that means I'm still talking."

"Yeah, but you could have been yawning, or chewing."

Now she was getting fed up. For fuck's sake, she wanted this day to end _already, _ten minutes in. With an exasperated sigh, her glare met the gaze of Lanky who was looking at her a little too often for her liking. Man, she wished she'd stood next to Big Blue Eyes - at least he would've been quiet.

"End the call. Hang up!"

"My probation worker-"

"You all right there, weird kid?"

Bambi Eyes glanced away from Curly to her for a fraction of a second before he completely averted his eyes, a little tic going in his jaw. Shit. She was growing to _really_ dislike the boy next to her.

"-Don't be disgusting. I'll call you later."

Finally, Diva put down her phone, only for Irish kid to start pulling kissy faces at Mr G who pulled a face of utter disdain in return.

"I'll rip out your throat and shit down your neck."

"I shouldn't be here, man." The tall black guy at the end mumbled.

"Me neither." Alexis growled, jostled by the pushing that was beginning between Ali G and Curly on her right, just as angry probation worker – what was his name? – started speaking again.

"Look, we need to work as a team here. Hey, that's enough!"

"Can I move to a different group? This isn't gonna work for me."

"Again, I agree." Alexis put her hand up, and Lego Hair shot her a look like he wasn't sure if she was taking the piss or not.

"Erm, what makes you think that you're better than us?" Chavvy to the right said.

Alexis wasn't sure if the question was aimed at her or the black guy but just as she was about to retort Curls did it for her.

"What is that accent?"

"Is that for real?"

A chuckle left Alexis again, which was probably not the best move seeing as she was closest to the angry looking chav.

"What? Ya trying to say somethin' now then, yeah?"

"It's… are you… that's just a noise. Are we supposed to be able to understand her?"

"Do you understand that?" She shot him the middle finger but instead of being insulted, or even a little scared like any other normal person, he dropped his arm over G Unit's shoulders.

"I think she likes me!"

The smaller guy was having none of it though and went for the lapels of Afro's jumpsuit; the Fresh Prince and Alexis both began chuckling while Probo-man jumped in to split them up and save him (she wouldn't lie, she was a little disappointed he did so). Pulling them apart, Shamrock exclaimed:

"It's love, man!"

Fiddy was being held back now but it didn't stop him shouting back in reply:

"Do it, man, do it! You're a prick, man, look at you!"

Alexis did indeed look at him, and nearly groaned aloud. The moron was now jumping around, antagonising the situation further by pretending to box and throwing pathetic punches in the air aimed at the other guy.

The chav girl began laughing now and by doing so, Alexis felt a little safer (or was that less like she was going to be mugged?) and finally, she could start laughing too, letting out the chuckles that had started to burn up in her stomach.

"You're a fuckin' pussy, bruv. He's taking the piss. Come here!"

Their words had now become incoherent, and the air was thick with laughter and angry yells, and yet Alexis couldn't deny the weird twisted feeling she felt in her belly. She wasn't sure what it was: mirth? Annoyance? Disappointment? Excitement?

All she knew was that this was definitely going to be the longest – most life-changing - two hundred hours of her life. But, at least with a group of misfit tossers like this, it was gonna be _anything_ but boring.

* * *

_'Leave while there's still hope for escape._

_You got to take what you can these days:_

_There's so much __**ahead**__ and so much __**regret**__.'_

Kill – Jimmy Eat World

* * *

**So here you have it: the prologue to 'tick tick tick tock' - my first **_**ever**_** fanfiction. **

**I'm still a little nervous about posting this but what the hell? For the love of Simon (and Nathan and Kelly and all the other Misfits) I thought I'd brave the internet and I'm hopinghopinghoping you enjoyed it.**

**Reviews are **_**greatly**_** appreciated. See you on the flipside. **


	2. Chapter 1

**Chapter One: Thunderstorms and Lightning Shows.**

Now Alexis could say she knew from experience community service was shit. It was beyond mundane and pointless and was just plain crap; she had no idea how painting some benches was really going to benefit anybody. Lying bloody probation worker. With a sigh, she began dabbing random marks onto the planks of the bench so it looked like Mr Blobby. Or like it had chicken pox. Whichever floated your boat, she supposed.

She'd been stuck with Vicky Pollard and the obnoxious twat from earlier despite hoping to be with the silent guy, 'cause he at least looked like he offered some peace and quiet. After sentencing she had made a plan for getting through this and she had (_had_) every intention of sticking to it: head down, work done, home bound. But now she had Curly trying to rope her and the other girl into talking and it was _so_ not happening.

"So… what's your name?" he grinned, one hand on the back of the bench as he leant over her; she was currently kneeling down, joining her dots of paint up in big spirals over the seat.

"Hm? Sorry, did you say something?"

"Aw. Don't be like that. C'mon, what's ya name?"

"Alexis."

That shit-eating smirk grew before he softly repeated her name:

"Alexis. Nice… and yours, love?"

He had turned on the other girl, sarcasm laced in his words so obviously she looked like she was about to punch him. Instead, she settled for staring him down.

"Kelly."

"What about you?" Alexis asked. Despite all that focus on not uttering one word to any of them, this boy had her breaking her vow in the first half hour. Looking back, maybe she should have taken that as a sign - a sign that Nathan could always, and would always, make her crack with that damn annoying charm of his.

"The name's Nathan." He sung, winking at her. Oh God, she could feel the corners of her mouth turning up at his cockiness despite herself but luckily for her, before he could notice, 50 Cent started a commotion. She wouldn't lie: when he got up, cap in hand and yelling angrily, she had jumped in surprise.

"Aw man, there's paint on my cap! This is bullshit!"

All six pairs of eyes were on him as he kicked one of the tins of paint into the river (_her _tin of paint, the prick), its contents spilling and splattering over the pavement and the water, covering them both in a gloss of wet, white emulsion as he stormed off. On his way, he couldn't help taking his anger out on an abandoned shopping trolley, kicking at it and making one of her eyebrows shoot up in bemusement. That guy would probably have been better suited at anger management than community payback.

"Wow. Whatta dick."

"Amen to that, sister." Nathan went back to leaning over her, a look in his eyes that she didn't like and yet, to her disgust, made her shoot him a smirk. Wow. Now she was playing some sort of warped game of _she-didn't-even-know-what_ with this guy: flirting maybe? "So enlighten me. Why ya here?"

"You don't wanna know." She was purposefully being difficult, not really sure if it was in hopes that it'd make him leave her alone or either enflame his curiosity further and thus, intensify his attention on her. Man, she was fucked up; this orange suit was doing something to her head because had this of been a week ago, she would have hated a cocky son-of-a-bitch like him smiling down at her and would _definitely _not have been encouraging him. In any way.

"Oh, but I do. That's why I'm asking. C'mon…" Alexis shook her head, refusing to meet his eyes but grinning nonetheless. "… Prostitution?"

She shot him a glare; that wasn't exactly what she had wanted.

"No."

"Just tell me. You don't look the type who should be doing this kinda shit."

"That's 'cause I'm not."

"Fine," he sighed, elongating the last letter, "you're no fun." He turned his attention to Kelly, leaning forward as he said, "So, I'm guessing shoplifting? … No?"

"Don't act like you know me cos you don't."

Again, he didn't seem to understand the dangers of antagonising someone with an ASBO and just carried on, oblivious to what could occur. How had he not been stabbed yet?

"I'm just making conversation. Man, you're both so defensive! This is a chance to network with other young offenders. We should be swapping tips, brainstorming. Come on, what did you do?"

"This girl called me a slag so I just got inta a fight."

"… Was this on _The Jeremy Kyle Show_?"

Alexis had to laugh. She had totally been thinking about how well the other girl would have fitted on the show since she'd first seen her. Even worse for poor Alexis, Kelly decided to answer with something that made her giggle even more.

"No, it was down Argos."

"Argos?"

"What? Ya think it's funny?" Kelly pointed her paintbrush dangerously at the still giggling Alexis who shook her head, desperately trying to contain her laughter (albeit unsuccessfully).

"No. No, course not."

Kelly looked like she was about to say something else but Nathan managed to take back both their attentions.

"Oh. Well you know what you should've done? You should of got one of those little pens and jabbed it in her eye."

When he began miming the action, Alexis knew she had to get away or she was gonna burst into uncontrollable reams of laughter that would probably have Kelly trying to batter her or something - and she was not quite ready for a beat down just yet. With a look on her face like she was about to burst, she quickly moved over to the bench she had originally wanted, unaware of the other two watching her puzzled.

Quiet Guy didn't look up, or even register her presence as she settled herself on her knees in front of his bench.

"Hi." She said gently, smiling through the slats at the boy crouching on the other side who looked, to her, like the epitome of helpless vulnerability.

Those hypnotic blue eyes rose to catch with her dark brown ones, an attempt at a smile on his mouth: it was quick and cracked and a little unsure. The boy had to look away before he could reply.

"Hello."

"I'm Alexis."

"Simon."

"Nice to meet you, Simon."

She wasn't looking at him anymore, she was now engrossed in dipping her brush into Gangsta's left over tin and painting a big 'A' over the bare area of the bench, presenting Simon with the opportunity to study her freely. And he wasn't really sure what to make of her…

She was pretty. Pretty in that _young-woman-not-really-sure-of-herself_ way that made him think of misunderstood heroes and half-grown sunflowers – that made him think of himself. There was an air of damaged intensity about her, of helplessness hidden behind a façade that appealed to him incredibly; it was almost reassuring to know even those who seemed so confident, so normal, still harboured some insecurities. Make-up appeared to be her shield, her defence of choice against the world and yet it ruined the composure of her features. It was too much - too much make-up, so carefully, meticulously put on, like a mask hiding what he could only imagine was a _beautiful _face without it.

Simon was a hell of a lot more observant than anyone else - always had been. The rest of them had simply seen a pretty girl who looked anything like a criminal, completely out of a place in a boiler suit, surrounded by criminals. Simon had seen straight through her.

Maybe he had zoned out during his study because when he glanced back up at her, those big coffee eyes were aimed at him, startling him like light beams scorching his retinas. Flushing, he quickly looked down. She didn't comment, instead she slipped a small compact from the pocket on the chest of her jumpsuit, flicking it open and examining her appearance. Simon quickly, daringly, shot her another look, not enjoying the heavy weight of dislike in her eyes as they stared at the mirror.

"What about you, weird kid? Don't take this the wrong way or anything but you look like a panty sniffer."

Both Alexis and Simon looked over at Nathan as he acted it out, hands up and sniffing heavily. Okay, she'd admit that Nathan did have a rather disarming quality about him (it was either his charisma or his looks, she hadn't decided yet) but this part of him she didn't like at all. (Not that she liked any part of him, of course. Obviously. Right. _Right_? He was a stranger. And a stranger with a criminal record at that. She definitely _disliked _him.)

A small, tiny, down-trodden (despondent)part of Simon had almost hoped Alexis (or anyone) would say something for him, something in his defence but she remained tight-lipped, glaring over at Nathan with a look on her face not too far from the one that had been there when she was looking at her own reflection. He supposed it was a little too much to expect protection from a stranger (from anyone).

"I'm not a panty-sniffer. I'm not a pervert."

Nathan began using his paint brush to imitate wanking off, grunting like an animal as he did so and aiming his actions over at Simon. Simon glanced up nervously while Alexis' eyes grew wider watching the display. Okay, he was definitely a prick. Right now, she couldn't even fathom the thought of finding him attractive (though she did): bullies not only turned her off but made sparks of disgust burn in her stomach. Eurgh.

She wasn't sure what she was gonna say, or really _why_ she was gonna say anything at all, but just as Alexis opened her mouth to smack Nathan up with a verbal-beating, Simon's exclamation cut across her would-be words. (Was it awful if part of her was a little relieved?)

"I tried to burn someone's house down." The words were bitten, sharp, brittle and the last thing she had expected out of his mouth. He had… he had tried to burn someone's home down? Dear Lord, appearances truly were misleading… although in honesty, she hadn't even begun to fathom as to why someone as innocent looking as him would be in a place like this. To her, he looked more lost, more mistaken here than she did; at least her past gave her an edge of… _something._

Nathan let out a high pitched squeal, smirking at the fact he had garnered the animated response from Simon before turning away, obviously only annoying the boy for shits and giggles. The arsehole.

Embarrassed or ashamed, or maybe even a little angry, Simon went back to boring his eyes into the bench, a flush creeping up his neck as he attempted to continue painting. A twinge of fear caught her in the solar plexus as she watched him furrow his eyebrows, a deep sense of unease burying itself in her which she knew would one day blossom into something more. This boy had more depth, more hidden secrets, than she could imagine but attempt to imagine, she did. She got lost in thought – at her, at him, at this situation, at the fact that this was anywhere she had hoped to be a year ago.

Around and around she went. But just before she got too lost in the maze of her mind, a growl of thunder rattled the air. Shaken, she glanced up at the sky as clouds rolled over its former blue canvas, slates and charcoal and black hazy colours bleeding and tainting it into something wild and dangerous and _scary_.

Alexis was from England: she was used to a spot (a lot) of dark skies, and storms of any sort, be them rain, snow, hale. But this… this one had her bones quaking and the hairs on her neck and arms standing up.

"What is going on with this weather?" Nathan mused while Alexis struggled to her feet, hugging herself.

"How did that happen? I mean, you've been here five minutes." Probation worker-man said, appearing out of nowhere and indicating the tin of paint floating in the river. "It's painting benches. How'd you screw that up? You tell me 'cause I have no idea."

Alexis had turned at the sound of his voice, watching him (his name still lost in her memories) try and contain his anger as he spoke, hands on hips but as the last word left his mouth, something smashed into the window screen of the car behind him.

Alexis screamed, throwing her hands over her head and she could only imagine the others did something similar.

"What the hell was that?"

"Oh, Jesus!"

"What's going on?"

"Fucking hell…" She spluttered voice partially drowned out by the car alarm that was now ringing. She stood up to look at the mangled mess of car that was left as Simon did too; he must have scrambled around to her side of the bench when the car had been hit. But hit with what? There was no way that was just a brick.

"That's my car…"

Simon fumbled with his phone, flipping it up and pointing it at the probation worker and his now broken automobile.

"Classic." There was a grin in Nathan's voice as he regarded the mess, instantly enamoured and drawn in by the chaos and damage before his eyes. Karma, however, turned right around and bit him on the arse when another massive something (what was it? A huge snowball? Hale? She couldn't tell) landed in the river just behind them. Its resounding splash arched over the group while they ducked for cover, screaming at the cold water drenching their backs.

"Oh my God!"

"OK, so I'm a little bit freaked out."

"What is that?"

Everyone turned to look at what Frizzy was talking about and Alexis felt her stomach knot up. Okay, that wasn't normal… not even in England. Spirals of dark clouds were forming over their heads, lightning flashing briefly and more huge boulders falling on the other side of the water; the sight made her breath catch in her throat. Accidentally, her shoulder brushed Simon's as he raised his phone, aiming it at the storm and part of her couldn't help thinking: _I'm guessing_ _now is _not_ the best time for action, camera man._

But before she could voice her opinion, one of the gigantic balls of hale crashed into the dumpster just by her and him. Hale: yeah, it was definitely hale. It knocked the container over, sending its contents exploding and she screamed again, grabbing at Simon's elbow and blindly dragging him away and towards where the others had huddled together. When she turned to regard where she had just been stood, she whimpered in fear, clutching tighter onto his suit without realising.

"I didn't sign up for this…" she murmured.

Simon glanced at her from the corner of his eye, partly concerned, partly freaked out and partly hoping he could catch all this on film. He wanted to say something about her clutch on his clothing, maybe ask her to loosen it, but he didn't need to as Tony (the nameless probation worker) began shepherding them away and she let go.

"Right, let's get everyone inside. Move! Move. Run!"

Alexis didn't need telling twice. Quickly she followed his lead, joining the others in running as fast as she could back to the community centre. Phone booths were shattered and the pavement cracked from the hale that was still being catapulted from the sky. Their feet pounded the ground, their breathing harsh and heavy, their voices hoarse from yelling and screaming and shouting out in terror. Alexis had her arms over her head to shield her as best she could, cursing herself for being so lazy as well as bloody Runner Boy's superior athletic ability. She would have given anything for longer legs right now.

At last! She was close. She hopped the steps two at a time, diving for cover under the community centre's veranda as quick as she could. Runner guy had got there before her and was busy shaking the doors, trying to wrench them open – and funnily, that's when she remembered his name from the paper: Curtis, Curtis Donovan. Scary what pressure could make you do.

"It's locked!"

"Open it." Alexis pleaded when Tony finally got there, already fumbling with his ring of keys. Everything was a blur from then on of words and shouts and hale and fear.

"What is happening? What's happening?"

"Open the door!"

"I'm finding the right key."

"Come on!"

"Open the door."

"Open the fucking door!"

"Fucking open it!"

"Don't speak to me like that!"

And then Alexis and the other five misfits were suddenly struck by lightning.

* * *

'_The rip of the thunder, it splits the sky; it's jagged proof for the strength of chaos._

_There's a strange music in the rumble._

_It's like the anger and the love's loss.'_

Life in the Storm – Edward McCain

* * *

**I had originally began planning and writing this story at 2x1, back before Superhoodie had popped up with those wonderful abs of his and fucked up everything I had planned. So thanks to him, I've had to shift quite a bit around but I'm **_**praying **_**I've finally got everything sorted into some semblance of order and coherence, although some parts are still a little shaky. Thankfully, he only really affects 't4' (yes, I did just abbreviate my own title ;) from 2x2 onwards so it'll be a little while before we enter unchartered territory. **

**Now we just have to wait for series three to find out what other spanners the writers have decided to throw into my works and how much of this speshs up the canon, won't we?**

**It's okay. Honey was made for challenges! :) **

**And for begging - so ! H-xo**


	3. Chapter 2

**Chapter Two: The Chaos after the Storm**

They seemed to fall in slow motion, a collection of limbs and orange suits and surprise - and sparking nerves when the lightning split through them. It hurt; it burnt their skin, it made their brains buzz, it created a fissure in their bodies that throbbed painfully. The strike knocked them all back several feet with a force unlike anything they had ever felt before and with a dull thud, they crashed into the pavement collectively.

Groaning, Alexis tried to open her eyes and move her limbs as she lay on the cold, wet pavement but the ability seemed to have left her. Smaller, flaking balls of hale continued to fall on them and the car alarm continued to ring but she couldn't bring herself to care: all she could focus on was the explosion of pain in the back of her head from where her skull had collided with the floor. All the wind had been knocked from her chest, and she gasped for breath, a white-hot, searing pain rushing through her body, down her limbs making them tingle and burn and _ache_. Seconds ticked by. Eventually, she could breathe normally again and after that, she could curl her fingers and after that, her whole arm, until _finally_ (thankfully) she could push herself up into a seating position. The pulsing beat in the back of her head subsided when she did so, a deep sigh leaving her in gratitude. What… the… fuck…?

"I feel really weird."

Alexis had completely forgotten about the other five in her moments of blind pain but blinking her eyes to try and rid her double vision, she turned her head to look at them. They lay in a row and Alexis was one away from the end, somehow thrown between Nathan and Simon, the latter of whom still had his phone in his hand. Kelly sat up from the other end and shot her a nervous smile – a smile that clearly said: _we're alive. how…?_ Alexis found she smiled back easily, her near death experience making her either nicer or needier for some sort of reassurance.

"So do I…" Alexis mumbled, bringing her hand up to her head to try and massage away her blossoming migraine. Meanwhile, the others had begun stirring, pushing themselves up a little.

"That'll be the lightning."

They were… they had… they'd just been hit with lightning? What the hell was happening? She should totally be –

"We should be dead."

Her migraine suddenly burst into her mind with a _bang_! at the thought and she tried to contain her yelp of pain but it was too intense, and part of her simply didn't give enough of a fuck to try; she'd just been hit by lightning, she was allowed to feel like shit.

"Are you okay?" A nervous voice asked to her left, a soft hand brushing the back of her own before promptly falling back to his body.

"Yeah… just a migraine." Her voice was tight but she quickly dropped her hand onto her knee in an attempt to prove so. Two concerned looking Simon's stared up at her while two Nathan's spoke in a choked voice. Bloody multiple vision.

"A little reassurance might be nice, you know: 'You're fine. Looking good'."

Alexis was totally on that band-wagon but when Tony sat up she knew something wasn't quite right.

"Wanker."

"Did he just call me a wanker?"

"Are you surprised?" Alexis couldn't help herself. Right now, with a head that felt like it was about to burst and a body that felt like tenderised meat, she could be doing without Nathan's shit.

He shot her a _weak_ affronted look, seeming to be very thick-skinned as he quickly went back to annoying Tony, clicking his fingers in his line of vision.

"Hey, hello?"

"Is everyone alright?" Tony asked only to be cut off by the other girl (_names, names, names! Learn ASAP _Alexis thought).

"We could have died, you dick."

And Alexis couldn't help but agree with her, although the rational part of her knew it wasn't entirely his fault.

"Are you all right?" Kelly asked to which he answered with a grunt, "You're acting like a freak."

Weren't they all?

"Maybe we should call it a day."

Alexis' heart soared at the prospect of freedom: of going home and having a mug of tea and a nap - dear Lord, she needed a nap after this mayhem. Carefully, she eased herself up onto her feet, brushing down the back of her suit as she did so which was now soaking wet. Ewww.

* * *

This time when they got changed it was a quiet affair, each of them sore and confused and actually kinda freaked out; it's not every day you're hit by a bolt of electrical discharge and survive. It was evident in the quietness of Nathan, the teeth snagged in Kelly's bottom lip, the big eyes of Simon, the twirling of Curtis's necklaces, the shaking of Alisha's fingers (she had finally heard the girl's name from Curtis).

Alexis' head felt like it was set to explode but she tried to ignore it as she slipped her legs into her denim shorts and shimmied them up. This time around she wasn't concerned with subtly and modestly getting changed because you know what? She didn't care. She had nearly died and if they found her figure revolting well fuck them, she was too shaken to give one. Right now, she thought that maybe, for once, there was something more important than how she looked and her physical appearance. (Funny, 'cause from the look in Nathan's eyes he found her figure anything _but _disgusting.)

She slung her arms into her vest then her head, pulling it down over her midriff and wincing. Vertigo smacked her in her already aching brain. She hissed in pain as she pulled her cardigan on and grabbed her backpack before walking out of the room without looking back.

At some point while she had been getting dressed Curtis had already left the room, because when she got into the corridor he was stood there, one foot on the wall behind him, arms crossed and apparently waiting. Sheepishly, Alexis approached him.

"Alexis, right?"

She nodded despite her brain crying out in pain at the motion.

"Curtis?"

He returned the gesture just in time for Nathan's entrance into the corridor, his dark eyes clouding in mild dislike at the sight of the other boy and pushing himself off the wall to his full height. Alexis followed his gaze and turned around to face the Irish boy.

"So… good first day, huh?" Nathan had his hands in his pockets, grinning and letting his eyes flicker between the two misfits in front of him (who funnily, rolled their eyes in almost perfect synchronisation).

"Not really, no." Alexis said, checking her phone for messages before slipping it back into her jeans.

Simon appeared then, his own mobile in his hands and flicking through something distractedly.

"So do we just go, then? Where's the probation worker?" Curtis asked, his question seemingly aimed at Simon which to her surprise annoyed Alexis. Yeah, she could understand not asking Nathan, 'cause that boy looked about as useful as vodka in the desert but what? Was she not good enough to answer or something?

"I think there's something wrong with him. It was like he was having a spasm." Simon said, looking up from his phone briefly before looking straight back down at it.

"He was probably just faking, trying to get compensation. Cheap bastard."

"Like you'd do any different?" Alexis muttered, arms folded and hip cocked to the side while Nathan merely grinned at amusement in her.

"I don't think he was faking it."

"And you'd know all about being… mental." Nathan stepped past Alexis to say the last word directly in front of Simon who watched him in uncertainty, "Wah-wah-wanker!"

And before she could scold Nathan for being a dick (again), Alisha walked up behind them.

"Are we waiting for something?"

"Probation worker." Curtis answered.

"I'm not hanging around for that dickhead." She said, pulling a face before promptly turning on her heel and walking away. By doing so, they all reached the same mutual agreement and followed her example.

She wasn't sure whether it was intentional or not but her steps fell into stride with Simon who was still seemingly captivated by his phone but was, in reality, a little nervous by her closeness.

"You shouldn't let him treat you like that, you know?" Alexis said quietly to him as she opened the exit's door, holding it open as he walked through. Once they were outside, he finally raised his eyes from his phone to look her in the face.

"I know."

* * *

"Mum - my _God_ - you better have the kettle on." Alexis yelled into her home as she opened the door.

Her keys were thrown onto the stairs as she walked into the living room, flopping exhaustedly onto the sofa; her eyes slid shut easily and she began taking deep, even breaths to try and calm all her still snapping nerves. The distinct sound of the kettle being switched on reached her ears just as the kitchen door opened.

"What are you doing home so early?"

"Mum, I cannot even begin to explain. Let's just say shit happens."

"So I'm taking it that it was a good first day then?" Jenny chuckled and Alexis opened her eyes to glare at her mum.

"Yes, mother. Community service was everything I had ever dreamed of and more."

"Hey. Don't be getting sarcastic with me or that tea will remain forever elusive."

"Or I could just get up and make it myself…?"

"Yeah, but will you?"

"… No… Sorry mum." The last two words were said with the whine only a child can produce when faced with their parent and it made them both smile; she was nearly twenty and yet her mum was most definitely still in charge.

"That's better. One cup of tea coming up."

"Three sugars!" Alexis called after Jenny's retreating figure.

She was answered with a firm "two" which made her grumble in irritation. Well, until her mother was back in the room where she forced a sarcastic, bright smile on her face as she accepted the offered cup.

"Thanks ma."

* * *

One day down, only another… erm… well… just another lot of days left before this was over, Alexis grimaced. What a bitch of a first day: her body was still aching but it was okay 'cause she doubted (hoped) none of the remaining days would be quite as eventful as today.

She had only planned coming close to death once and whenever that was planned to be, she had already decided on simply giving herself up to it: she had read Harry Potter and the '_Tale of the Deathly Hallows_' and knew you could never escape from death so why bother? It was inevitable. Except this time, it appeared she had accidentally slipped its grasp without even trying.

And that had shaken her much more than she would ever have thought. She was only nineteen; she had a whole life to live.

Groggily, she yawned at the reflection in her dresser. Without thinking about it, she picked up her brush, pulling it through her hair and trying to untangle the knots while it was still wet from her shower.

This time (for the first time in a long time) she didn't acknowledge the fact that of all her features, her hair was the only one she could tolerate. It fell long enough to just cover her breasts, thick, not-quite-curly and a deep mahogany colour weaved with a deeper burgundy-brown burnish; she liked to hope it made her look a little special, but she knew most likely made her look like a freak. Ah well. She was too tired to even hate her sleepy mirror image, instead trying for a smile that didn't quite reach her cobalt eyes before sighing and giving up.

And maybe it was just the day she had, or her severe lack of sleep, or maybe even wishful thinking (she had always been a sucker for blue eyes) but she didn't seem to notice the unnatural change of colour in her irises.

* * *

'_I ain't scared of lightning, come on and do your worst._

_If they gave degrees for cheating destiny, than man, I got a first…'_

I Ain't Scared of Lightning – Tom McRae

* * *

**I don't mean to sound needy but please, someone review and at let me know what you think: good, bad, indifferent. Just let me know you guys are reading and whether you want some more. **

**This was a bit of a fillerfillerfiller chapter with maybe a few more hints to the kind of person Alexis is really, hidden behind her (not very effective or dramatic) bravado. I imagine a few of you can relate; I know I can… which leads us onto her power. Any guesses?**

**In the true style of Misfits, she and it are related but you guys are just gonna have to wait and see. Still a few more chapters until its grand unveiling though *fanfare* so hold out hope. H-xo**


	4. Chapter 3

**Chapter Three: Realisation**

"Morning sweetheart."

Alexis nearly groaned at the sight of Nathan crawling out of one of the community centre's window looking as much of an idiot as he had proven himself to be the day before. This poor boy: she had known him for maybe twenty-four hours and her opinion of him was already in the gutter. As was his brain from the look in his eyes when they swept over her body.

Once again, Alexis was gonna blame being a criminal for the fact she didn't fidget under his eyes but chose instead to stand a little taller, tossing her hair over her shoulder and grinning playfully. He was still struggling out of the window when she walked past him, tightening her hold on her backpack while he jogged up behind her.

"Hey, you can wait up, you know princess."

"I know. I just chose not to."

Nathan wasn't really sure what to reply with; he was use to having girls reacting strongly towards him – be that in encouragement or opposition. They were never (usually) such a big bag of contradictions and nonchalance; he had seen the grin on her face when he called to her so what the fuck? Instead of continuing to struggle with useless words, Nathan busied himself with extracting a pack of cigarettes from his pocket and placing one between his lips. He held out the box to her.

"Fag?"

"No thank you." She said primly, "I don't smoke anymore."

"You dirty quitter." He joked, now routing around in his pockets for a lighter as his cigarette dangled precariously from his lips and like a target, her eyes instantly honed in on them. Oh god, she disliked this boy but all she could think about was _I would, I __**so**__ would_. Maybe it was because of him and that mouth that she didn't notice the other four crowded around the door or the huge red writing tagged along the side of the centre: I'M GOING TO KILL YOU.

"This is a joke. Did one of you do this?" Curtis said unimpressed as Alexis and Nathan joined the group, throwing her attention over to the wall. It was then that she noticed the threatening words blazing before her eyes. Woah. Seriously, either this area was shit or the people in it were bananas…. maybe both?

"Don't look at me 'cause I didn't do it." Kelly snapped.

Nathan came up behind her, regarding the building critically before offering his opinion. Alexis settled herself next to Simon who shot her a shy smile, eyes flicking between her and the wall several times before settling determinedly on the community centre.

"I'll tell you who did it-" Alexis had to hear this "- it's that Banksy prick." And his two cents worth didn't disappointment. Everyone looked at him in disbelief. "There's a hidden meaning. It's like that monkey policeman with the banana and the Tesco's bag." What a moron.

On his last words he forced himself between Alexis and Simon, wrapping his arms around them both and squeezing.

"Maybe someone wants to kill us." Simon said nervously and Alexis stared at him with a look similar to the one she had just given Nathan. What the hell? Paranoid much?

"Why would anybody wanna kill us?"

Simon looked sheepishly at the floor, unable to articulate the suspicion gnawing at his bones into words. These people already thought he was weird and that was not going to help in anyway. He didn't have to worry for too long though as out came Tony, (Alexis might now know his name but she still thought Probo-Man sounded cooler) annoyance heavy in his tone when he began speaking.

"Come on you lot, let's get changed."

"Have you seen this? Someone's taking the piss." Curtis thrust his hand out towards the threat.

"Yeah, terrible isn't it? All this anti-social behaviour."

"Oh. Is he having a dig at us?" Nathan said and Alexis laughed.

Alisha's phone then decided to ring and it seemed to be the straw that broke the camel's back as Tony flipped a lid.

"Right, that's it! All of you give me your phones. No-one's making any more calls today. Now, come on." Tony growled out in rage, snapping his eyes over to the pretty girl.

"Are you allowed to take our phones?" She giggled, taking a picture of him on hers just before he snatched it from her hands. Curtis handed his phone over without (too much) resistance but Kelly wasn't quite so easy to separate from her mobile.

"What?" She said annoyed, refusing to give it over but Tony wasn't having any of it and pried it phone from within her crossed arms.

Simon handed it to him easily and Alexis followed suit, placing one of her prized possessions into his palm with major internal aggravation. Okay, so she wasn't going to start a dominance battle over her phone – she had intended on getting through this as easily as possible and fighting with her probation worker didn't really seem like it would help – but for fuck's sake, couldn't she keep it? She hadn't been messing around with hers. Christ.

"I'm expecting a call from my mum." Nathan pleaded (although he didn't seem very sincere) and holding his phone up, only for Tony to swipe it away. "Okay, take a message."

The look on Nathan's face made her want to giggle. He was so hilariously pathetic. But with the confiscation of their mobile phones, it was time for them to head inside and get changed into their community payback suits. Sighing, Alexis trailed after the boys, glaring heatedly at Tony as she passed him by.

Entering the changing rooms, she pulled her locker open and threw her backpack inside it. The others were in various states of dress and undress but Alexis blocked them out, focusing on pulling off her cardigan and her vest, wriggling out of her jeans and stepping into her _vile_ orange jumpsuit. She zipped it up partway once it was on, pulling a face as she checked out her reflection; she looked obese in this thing. Damn it. Sitting on the bench, she began rolling it up at the ankles.

"Is he allowed to take our phones? He's probably using them to call one of those sex lines." Nathan said, dropping his jeans just as he began speaking. Typical. Alexis looked away from his nearly naked body to make sure her cuffs were of a similar size despite the quiet urge to keep watching him.

"Those sex lines will eat your credits." Curtis answered.

"Call them a lot do you?" Alisha retorted and Alexis stopped her fiddling to laugh and look up at the group who were now basically dressed (except for Nathan, the bloody exhibitionist).

"He's out there filming himself on our phones, naked, masturbating." Nathan grinned at each of them in turn as he fitted his suit around his hips and Alexis slid out her trusty compact, flipping it open before she replied.

("Isn't this Gary's cap?" came a voice no one heard.)

"Are you sure that's not just what you want him to be doing? Hm?"

("There's blood on it.")

"Funnily enough… no."

"Are you sure?" Her voice was teasing, playful and Nathan turned to look at her, fiddling with pulling up his outfit and grinning; the others had busied themselves with checking out their appearances, or in the case of Kelly, smoking.

("Has anyone seen him?")

"Definitely. Now if it was you on the other hand, I wouldn't mind quite so much." His eyes flashed over to her ("Did you see that? What was that?") but she refused to look up from her mirror – play it mean, keep 'em keen.

("I'm talking to you. Something's happening to me.")

"You're joking, right?" She finally shot him an upwards glance, something in her voice that was both encouraging and dissuading and ultimately, very confusing to Nathan. What the – was this girl in or not?

("I'm right here! Look at me! Look at me!")

Nathan didn't answer, just winked and pulled his zip up in one tug. The mirror slipped back into her pocket and she stood, grinning and shaking her head at this idiot boy and his ego.

("Can't you see me?")

"Do you want some of this?" Alisha asked, offering her freshly lit cigarette out to Curtis who shook his head.

"Nah. I'm good."

"Give it here." Nathan said, taking it from her outstretched hand as he walked past, "Come on."

"For fuck's sake." Kelly muttered angrily, following the others as they began filing out. Before she did, Alexis made sure her locker was firmly closed one more time (you can't be too careful when you're surrounded by people with ASBOs) before heading out the door, making sure to grab a bucket on the way.

Now, Alexis was nowhere near as observant as Simon had proven himself to be yesterday, so she didn't realise that their six was now down to a five. And it was funny, because it meant the one person doing community service whom she seemed able to actually tolerate was also the one person she didn't notice missing from the group.

* * *

_Scrub, scrub, scrub, scrub. Hey. That reminds me of that song… What was it? Oh! ~ No, I don't want no scrub. A scrub is the kinda guy getting no love from me - hanging out the passenger's side of his best friend's drive, trying to holla at me~_

Alexis was currently singing in her head, desperately trying to resist the urge to bounce in time to the beat as she scrubbed hard at the huge, red 'N' of 'GOING'.

Kelly however was annoyed as fuck at the fact that her brain was currently being bombarded with Alexis' bloody irritating voice – and for fuck's sake, now the girl was trying to rap. This power was dumb as fuck. And that's why she kept shooting Alexis dirty looks, in some vain hope that it might shut her the hell up. Instead, it just made Alexis rather puzzled: she was washing the wall, what the hell had she done to offend her?

But then she caught sight of Nathan shooting her a smile from over Kelly's shoulder and she stumbled over the lyrics in her head. Shit. The song was totally fitting to him. And now all she could think about was that she would honestly, definitely, totally love to tap that. Kelly's look turned almost venomous and Alexis was fairly certain it was enough to make one of her internal organs wither – eek – so she turned back to the wall in double time.

Around the corner came Simon, bucket in one hand and looking a little shaky. Alexis shot him a reassuring smile as he settled himself in front of the 'O' and he attempted to smile back; it was cute… in a weird, scared child-like way.

"You know after the storm, did any of yous feel like dead weird?" Kelly stopped her scrubbing to ask.

"Yeah. I had a strange tingling sensation in my anus." Nathan replied. Kelly shot him a nasty glare and Alexis nearly threw her brush at him. God, he was an idiot. And then out of nowhere, Kelly was looking past her to Simon, her eyebrows furrowed and this look on her face that Alexis couldn't read.

"What? Did you feel weird?" Kelly was stepping towards Simon now and Alexis was thoroughly confused. Had she missed something or was someone else just picking on Simon now?

"You don't want to hear about my anus?" Nathan called after her.

"Do you really need to ask the question?" Curtis replied, staring at the curly haired boy in disgust who just shot him a grin in return.

"Something happened." Simon began uncertainly, only for Nathan to cut across him.

"What's that? Squeak up."

"Will you shut the fuck up?" Alexis whipped her head around to face Nathan, her eyes narrowed and her tone dangerous; she was beginning to get fucking fed up of him being nasty to Simon when he had no reason to be. Geez, she hated bullies.

Simon felt a small rush of something new, foreign, thankful in his stomach.

"Something happened to me." His voice held (a little) more confidence.

"Are you a virgin? _Hi-five!_"

It was now Kelly's turn to defend the boy, following Alexis' lead.

"Shut up!" She snarled, rounding on the taller guy who dropped his hand that had been waiting for another to slap it. He turned back to the wall as she did to Simon.

"What was it?"

"It's nothing." There was a firmness to his voice that surprised Alexis as he directed his attention back to the wall indicating the conversation was done and he was saying no more. And just as Alexis began feeling better at the thought of a quiet morning cleaning until her arms ached, Kelly marched over to Nathan and pushed him hard enough that he stumbled backwards into his bucket of water.

"What was that for?" He cried out, sounding as confused as Alexis felt. What was going on? She felt like she was two steps behind or something 'cause things were not making sense anymore. Kelly just ignored him and his question and stormed away, all eyes on her. "Jesus!"

A few minutes passed before he opened his mouth again:

"Well, I don't know about you guys but I'm shit bored of this. See ya later." And with that, he threw his brush down on the floor and walked off to the community centre. Alisha – who had been doing nothing Alexis noticed angrily – followed Nathan and with a look in his eyes like an excited, hopeful puppy, Curtis trailed after her. Which meant Alexis and Simon were left on their own.

"You coming?" Alexis said to him, dropping her brush into her bucket and peeling her washing-up gloves off. He held her eyes for a second too long before nodding and copying her, placing his brush and gloves down on the floor with more care than any of the others had.

Unaware to it, a smile came onto her face at his gentleness and refinement and concern that was so easily identified in such few motions. It was unusual in someone nowadays. She'd never met someone so purposefully controlled and it was remarkably endearing; there was an air of extraordinariness around him that took a hold of her and made her want to know him, to know about him, to be a part of him. He was new. Woah.

She flushed when those thoughts crept into her mind because it was just a little too soon to be thinking that way: she didn't even know him. (But she guessed the point was that she wanted to.)

He looked up at her as those feelings raced across her face, her eyes alight with several emotions that made him feel uncomfortable, but then consciousness came back to them and they locked with his and he smiled. She smiled back and together, they walked silently into the community centre.

* * *

Simon had found it a little disconcerting under the weight of her gaze but he wouldn't deny that he got a stomach full of butterflies and a rush that made him tingly and a little dizzy at the idea that she was so interested in him. Nobody looked at him like that. Nobody looked at him at all. And yet she had watched him with eyes full of obvious interest and curiosity and Simon had this feeling in his gut that made him think that maybe – _just _maybe – she might be his friend. (His first friend.)

As soon as he could - as soon as their stupid, and in the case of Nathan, rather misogynistic opinions were aired - he walked away from the two other boys with the hopes of finding Alexis; he was as captivated (at the thought of her) as she was by (the thought of) him.

He followed Nathan around the corner and there she was, lying across the floor, phone raised above her head as she texted. Her eyes may not have looked up at his entrance but Alisha's had from her seat on the sofa, her look filled with an indifference that made him certain Alexis may be something more than a stranger. Soon.

Nervously, he sat himself near enough to her for conversation but far enough to not freak her out, curling his knees up to his body and wrapping arms around them, back pressed against the wall. At the motion, her gaze looked away from the screen of her mobile to follow him upside down before flickering back to her phone. When she was done with her message, she slid it back into her pocket and rolled onto her front, smiling a weird smile and checking them each out intensely in turn, leaving Simon to last.

Determinedly, he kept his eyes trained on the wall opposite him unsure of how to react. It was okay though, because before he started squirming uncomfortably, Nathan began rocking the drinks machine violently and stole her focus.

That tilt to her lips took a different turn as she observed the Irish boy, one of dislike and amusement and (more than) a little desire; Simon tried not to look at it, because the thought of anyone finding someone like him (a bully) attractive made him concerned for their health. A can finally dropped out of the machine with a dull _ka-thunk _and then her eyes flickered back to him, the smile losing its heat and yet growing warmer.

"When I was in sixth form, you came to my school." Alisha said out of nowhere, talking to Curtis' back. At the sound of her voice, he turned, placing the buckets he had had in his arms onto the floor, "You gave this big talk about athletics and all your medals and that."

"So I'm guessing you're not going to the Olympics." Nathan sprawled into a random wheelchair, grinning at the annoyance that flew across the taller boy's face. Both Simon and Alexis watched the interactions in mild interest.

"Funny."

"… I heard he was dealing crack." Alisha said.

"What? I wasn't dealing crack."

"See, I got told it was meth." Alexis rested her head on her palm.

"No, no, no. The papers said it was steroids." Nathan pulled at the ring on his can before placing it to his lips and drinking.

"That stuff will shrivel your dick."

It looked like someone had slapped Curtis straight across the face.

"It wasn't steroids. I'm not a cheat. That stuff in the papers was bullshit."

"Yeah, so what was it then?"

Curtis looked from Alisha to Nathan to Alexis before staring at the floor (and ignoring Simon), "I got caught with a little bit of coke. All right? I messed up one time."

Alexis wasn't surprised but before she could pose another question to him, Alisha beat her to it.

"No one gets community service for possession." Alisha tsk-ed.

"If it was anyone else, they'd have got a caution. I get two-hundred hours' community service and a two year ban from athletics. They said, 'cause of my profile they needed to send a message."

"You let yourself down. You let the kids down. You let your parents down…" Nathan teased, making Alisha giggle.

"Shut the fuck up!" Curtis snapped, grabbing at Nathan, "All I ever did was train. You know nothing! I shouldn't even fucking be here."

"You can't hit someone in a wheelchair." Nathan burbled breathless in Curtis' grip, smirking while Alexis sighed, shaking her head. Absolute idiot. Simon caught the motion and a breeze of relied flooded through him; okay, so she wasn't completely blind to his stupidity.

Curtis growled, pushing him away and Simon watched him with wide, scared eyes.

"You wanna know what I did?" Alisha said softly, toying with the bottle in her hands.

"No. Not really." Nathan said.

"Holla." Alexis mumbled and the girl shot the both of them dirty looks.

"Well, you're still hearing." She snapped and Alexis rolled her eyes, pushing herself up into a seating position as the boys began rearranging themselves so they were facing the sofa she was sat on. Alexis tried to block her out as she started rattling on about a party, and someone shagging, and nausea, and a car, and drunk-driving (the boys all looking as bored as Alexis was) but then their interest was caught as she held the bottle up:

"This cop, yeah, he hands me the breathalyser and I'm like… 'Do I suck or… blow?' It's insane, I'm totally working it, yeah."

And then she proceeded to start sucking off the plastic bottle with a little too much accuracy and skill that it made Alexis cringe. Ew! She did not need to be seeing this. Turning her head, she caught sight of Nathan and Curtis and their wide eyed, captivated stares and turning to the other side, Simon who was watching with mouth agape and big blue eyes stuck on her lips. Dear Lord, even the sweet one was tempted by her.

"Now, I don't know if this cop is gay or what-" or maybe he was professional? "-but he tells me I'm four times over the limit. It's bullshit. I didn't even want to go to the party."

Now, maybe Alexis wasn't the best to judge seeing as she had a criminal record herself, but what? Was this girl serious? Geez…

Nathan turned his head towards Alexis, about to ask her again as to why she was there when Kelly fell through the door, breathless and scared out of her wits.

"He's gonna kill us!"

* * *

'_Alone and I'm in between the place that I'm from_

_And the place that I'm in - a city I never been. _

_But I found a friend or should I say a foe?'_

Trust Me – The Fray

* * *

**Thank you so much for the reviews! It's so nice to know people are enjoying this, and I'd appreciate anymore you guys wanna send to boost me morale and hopefully keep the updates coming nice and regularly. It'll all pick up soon, I promise, it's just I don't think it's entirely realistic (for Simon or Alexis) to just jump into something. I hope it'll be worth the wait though.**

**And these chapters are steadily getting longer… Hm… **

**Finally, both Alexis and Simon understand they're feeling a case of magnetic curiosity towards the other because they seem to be the only two (scared) not really appropriate for this kind of setting; I've tried my best to show their mutual uncertainty, their mutual need for something they don't quite have but imagine is lodged in the other.**

**Maybe they're right… who knows? H-xo**


	5. Chapter 4

**Chapter Four: Misfits versus Death (again)**

"Nice entrance. Very dramatic." Nathan laughed as Kelly rushed to lock the door, her fingers fumbling uselessly with it from shaking like a scared leaf.

Alexis couldn't help agreeing: dramatic was an understatement. Was she on drugs or something? She definitely looked more of a crack-head then Curtis…

"I'm not a druggie!" Kelly screamed at her and Alexis gaped in confusion… what? How did she know she was thinking that? "The probation worker's gone mental, he just attacked me! Something really weird is happening. I'm hearing these voices. It's like I can hear what people are thinking."

"Have you been sniffing glue?" Alisha simpered condescendingly, disbelief heavily implied in her tone but Alexis sat up a little straighter in interest. What she was saying was either insane or true, and she was obviously thinking the former… and yet the look on Kelly's face - all fearful and ruined make-up - had her inching towards the latter, as much as that made Alexis think she, herself, was going mad too. She got to her feet quickly, backing up a few steps and folding her arms; either way, something scary-weird was going on right now: it was a case of mad girl versus mad probation worker.

"The storm, the lightning, I dunno! It's done something to us!"

"Okay, so if you can hear our thoughts, what am I thinking now?" Nathan pointed at his head.

"You think its bullshit?"

"Course I think its bullshit! You don't need to be a mind reader to know that."

"Why are you in a wheelchair?"

"It was the storm. The strange tingling sensation in my anus has spread through my body and now I can't feel my legs."

"I'm serious!" Kelly raged kicking out at him.

"Ow! Jesus!"

"What do you mean, the probation worked attacked you?" Curtis spoke up.

"This does sound like complete shit." Alisha said.

"He's out there and he chased me!" Kelly shouted, staring at each of them with a mixture of rage and annoyance and desperation in her rounded eyes.

"Something happened to me too," came a quiet voice to Alexis' side and she spun around to face Simon.

"Did you pop your cherry?" Nathan pointed at him, faux-surprise in his expression, "Ah, we're all very happy for you."

"Earlier on, when we were in the locker-room… I was invisible." Okay, maybe the crazy was contagious or something because that was the last thing she had expected out of his mouth. He seemed like the only semi-smart, reasonable one here – besides herself of course. "I turned invisible." He reiterated firmer.

"So… she's psychic and you can turn invisible. That seems likely." Curtis laughed.

"Yeah. Did anybody witness this miraculous disappearance?"

"If he turned invisible, I'm guessing no?" Alexis stepped in although she wasn't sure as to why she did. She didn't believe him so she was going to blame it on her maternal side and her want to defend him because she definitely, definitely did _not_ believe him…

"You were all there."

"I think we might have noticed you vanishing into thin air."

"You didn't. I was standing right there. You couldn't see me."

"Alright." Nathan wheeled over to Simon and Alexis took a step away from them both. "Go on then. Do it - turn invisible."

Simon raised his head, opening his mouth and pulling some really weird faces. Hm… he looked a little more crazy and a little less attractive right then. Straining and grunting, Alexis cringed a little.

"Oh my God, he's disappeared!" Nathan cried out, staring randomly in space as a hopeful, confused look passed over Simon's face.

"Can't you see me?" He grinned, waving his hand in front of Nathan's face.

"No." Nathan threw the can at Simon where it bounced off his forehead. "You're invisible! You two are hilarious. Really, keep taking that medication."

Alexis hated what Nathan had just done but more than that, she hated agreeing with him. There was no chance they could expect them to believe this, it was just too far-fetched. Simon's face had fallen and he was looking at her, pleading with his eyes for her to believe him and she flushed in embarrassment – for her and for him; she didn't want to cut him down any more but there was just no reasonable way she could believe this.

"Don't go out there, he'll kill you!" Kelly suddenly grabbed both their attention, leaning on Nathan's wheelchair and yelling in his face.

"Of course he will, 'cause he's such a bad ass."

"Don't!"

"She's telling the truth!"

"What?" Alexis exclaimed as all eyes rounded on Curtis who looked as surprised at his outburst as they were.

"And you know this how? I suppose you're psychic now too."

"All this. It's already happened once. I open the door, the probation worked, he killed you!" He indicated Kelly. "You were right there. You were dead. Everything froze. You were all just standing there. Time went backwards." His words were a rush and now Alexis knew everything had most certainly gone weird-tits up because if Simon was the most reasonable in the group, Curtis had struck her as the second and now even he was joining in with this warped little game. She was so confused!

"What are you saying? What, you turned back time?"

"This just gets better by the second."

"This just gets _odder_ by the second." Alexis tightened her hold on herself.

"Everything happened again. Exactly the same. I'm telling you, don't open that door." Nathan ignored him, walking over to it and unlocking the latch. "No!"

Once the door was opened and he poked his head out, a look of fear passed over his face and he quickly slammed the door shut, re-locking it. "He's right. The probation worker's gone mental!"

Alexis yelped and jumped as someone (she was gonna guess the probation worker) rammed into the doors, grunting and shouting and smacking into the glass violently. Squealing, she walked over to where the other misfits had huddled together, pressing herself in between Kelly and Alisha and praying for a miracle.

"Maybe he's on crystal meth. That stuff makes you crazy. My friend Chloe did it, and she nearly shagged her brother. And he's really ugly."

_Is now really the time?_ Alexis thought, jumping in sync with the others as Tony thrust even harder against the door.

"The graffiti – _'I'm going to kill you'_ – he wrote it." Simon said slowly.

"What did I say? I said there was a hidden meaning… Or not." Nathan mumbled.

"Did anything happen to yous?" Kelly asked, turning to the two girls at her side.

Alexis shook her head determinedly, "No. Nothing."

"No! We should call the police." Alisha replied.

"He took our phones; he's got all our phones."

Fear began pummelling in Alexis' chest in time to Tony's bangs when suddenly he had stopped and his shadow had disappeared from the glass.

"He's stopped…"

"You dickhead, why did you come back here? You should have gone for help!"

"What do you know, bitch?"

"Shut up, you chav."

"You know if you call me a chav one more time, I'll kick you so hard in the cunt your mum will feel it." The claws were out and Alexis was pressed right in between them. Typical. She stumbled out of their way and slid in next to Curtis who looked down at her with big eyes. What the fuck indeed…

"Her mum will feel it – how does that work?" Nathan asked in a light-hearted attempt to change the subject and ease the tension but Kelly turned to face them all, eyes wide.

"He tried to kill me! I came back here to warn yous lot and I could have left ya. I'm sick of every single one of you judging me." Her finger was jammed into each of their faces. "You can all fuck off!"

"Yeah, whatever. I'm getting out of here." Alisha mumbled turning and walking away down the corridor.

"Out the back way. Come on!" Nathan said, following her and urging them to follow: Alexis nodded and grabbed onto the back of his jumpsuit, jogging to keep up with his strides. Soon they were all running and then Nathan slipped as they rounded the corner, falling and nearly taking her with him. Alexis squeaked, staring down at the puddle of red by her feet that must have been the reason he lost his balance. She bit her lip. That looked scarily… horribly… disturbingly like blood. A rush of metallic-tinged air assaulted her nostrils and she stumbled backwards, tripping over her feet in her haste to get away.

"Oh fuck! Jesus Christ!" Nathan cried, staggering to his feet and staring at his hands which were covered in the sticky blood. Gagging, he began rubbing it off on his front, blanching and yelling: "Get it off me. Fuck. Get it off me! Jesus!"

The lockers. The blood was coming out of the lockers and leaking across the floor; everyone took a step forward while Alexis took a step back. No. No, no, no. With a shaking arm, Curtis reached out for the handle, wrenching it open and out dangled the gangsta from yesterday, limp and bloody and obviously dead. Alexis yelped, her hands rushing to cover her mouth as she began choking on the smell and her terror.

"I did wonder what had happened to him." Nathan whispered and with a rush of guilt Alexis realised she hadn't. Everybody crowded around the locker, their faces a combination of disgust and tears, and in the case of Simon morbid curiosity, when Alisha whimpered:

"He's going to kill us."

"Turn back time, stop this happening."

"I don't know how it works!"

"Oh, that's great. That's really useful!" Nathan snapped but Curtis ignored him, touching Alisha softly on the back before taking her wrist.

"Come on. Don't look at him." But when he touched her something came over him, his body tensing and his grip tightening and his words coming out in a flurry of half-freaky, half-passionate speech. "I've got to have sex with you right now. Ah, you're so beautiful." Alisha began struggling and he took both her wrists.

"What's up with him?" Kelly asked, apparently not concerned with his behaviour.

"Let's go. Let's do it now."

"Don't just stand there!" Alexis scolded, coming up behind Curtis and taking him by one arm, pulling on it as hard as she could. It proved fruitless though: he didn't even seem to register her grip on his arm, he was so focused on the girl in front of him. Finally, with one last push from Alisha and one last tug from Alexis, he let go.

"Get off me, you freak!" Alisha screamed raising her hand to slap him only for him to catch it.

"Oh, for fuck's sake!" Alexis growled, taking handfuls of the back of his vest and pulling again.

"You're so hot! I'm gonna bone you, I'm gonna shag you senseless!"

"Let go!"

Alisha managed to wrench her hands away from him.

"Wh-what did I do?" Curtis asked genuine uncertainty in his voice.

"Er… you said you were gonna shag her." Kelly said.

"And you were getting your chap out." Nathan dropped his gaze down as did everyone else – including Curtis. He yelped in embarrassment, sorting himself out quickly.

"Shut up!"

"It's when you were touching her." Simon said slowly, calmly, eyes wide in realisation as it all began making sense to him.

Alisha looked around at them all in alarm, raising her shaking hands up and staring at them in panic before leaning over and pressing her fingers into Simon's neck. That same weird change took effect on him, his mouth wide as he gasped for breath.

"I'm so hard for you. I want to rip your clothes off and piss on your tits."

Those words had Alexis gaping at him while Alisha squealed, letting go so he fell to the floor. That was a little worrying for him to just admit in front of everyone… and more than a little disconcerting.

"What is happening to me?" Alisha screamed at them, staring at her hands like they were dangerous weapons.

"You sick bastard!" Nathan's face was scrunched up as Simon get unsteadily to his feet, face blank but eyes puzzled.

And then suddenly Tony smashed through the glass door to their right. Alexis screamed along with everyone else, all of them jumping backwards except for Kelly who rushed over to the corner and grabbed a full tin of paint. Tony writhed on the floor amidst the glass, his eyes a funky colour and blood dripping down his face.

"Oh shit. Oh shit." Alexis murmured backing up even more when Kelly ran up to his side and slammed him around the head with the can in her hand – hard - knocking him back down. Alexis breath caught in her throat at the sight of him, still and face down and looking scarily like he was dead too.

"What did you do?" Nathan gasped breathlessly as everyone turned to regard Kelly and the wound in the back of his head, the dented paint tin that lay next to him and the blood staining it.

"Is he dead?"

"Er… I'm no doctor, but… you see the way the back of his head's caved in like that…" Nathan pointed towards him and Alexis felt her eyes well with tears. No!

"Chav!" Tony suddenly roared making a blind grab at Kelly's ankle while Alexis gasped. But before she could be too relieved at his living, Kelly lifted her foot and brought it down into his already caved skull. Alexis turned away, choking on her own breath at the sounds of squelching and snapping and Tony dying and Kelly shouting:

"I. Am. Not. A. Chav!"

Alexis couldn't look, she couldn't face it, she couldn't stand to see her future truly leave her. Now she was an accessory to murder. Now she'd never make anything of her life.

"That should do it." Nathan mumbled, hands clenched into his hair and turning a sickly hue at the scene before him.

"You killed our probation worker."

"This is very, very bad."

"I feel sick." Alisha gasped, covering her mouth as bile rose in her throat and at the noise, Alexis' body copied, growing remarkably light-headed. Simon placed a steadying hand onto her raised arm, and with the human warmth of his hand through the fabric thawing into her skin, she managed to turn around, gagging even more at the sight. Her bottom lip trembled.

"He would have killed us!" Kelly attempted to defend herself but Alexis couldn't hear anything, all her senses were now trained on the bloody body on the floor.

"We should call the police. It was self-defence." Curtis said and Alexis began nodding, not noticing Simon's hand still on her.

"Yeah, he's right. Look, we show them the dead boy in the locker, they'll do some CSI shit and figure it all out." Alisha said.

"They won't believe us!" Kelly barked.

"We just tell them the truth; we stick to our story."

"And what's our story? That he can turn invisible and that you can turn back time?"

Alexis sobbed then, all her hopes dashed because it was true, Kelly was right: no one would believe them, believe _her _anymore. Her whole life had just changed then. (Unknown to her it had all changed yesterday with the lightning strike). "It doesn't matter what we tell them, they'll say we're lying. They'll say that we killed them both! No one's gonna believe you, not anymore."

"If there's no body, there's no crime." Simon's voice broke through her cage of fear and her head snapped to look at him, a little surprised by his closeness but then weight of his hand reminded her as to why he was. "We should bury them under the flyover."

"Yeah? How do we do that? Someone's gonna see us."

"Someone's going to see this!" Alexis blurted out, hands waving around at the mess and blood and gore all around them. Simon's hand slowly went back to his own body, smoothing his hair nervously.

"No, no, no, no. Right, we give them a quick little-" Nathan whistled "-right? Then we put them in those wheelchairs, we wheel them up there, and if anyone sees us, we're just a bunch of young offenders taking a couple of specials for a walk in the sunshine." He sounded like he was about to cry at the last words and Alexis suddenly felt a rush of sympathy for him, for all of them – herself included.

Silently, they all reached the same mutual agreement.

* * *

The dull thud of the two corpses falling into their shallow grave was a sound that haunted Alexis for _years_ afterwards and in nightmares every night for the next few months. They looked like mannequins at the bottom, pathetic and broken and bent, her stomach churning terribly at the sight.

"Steady." Curtis said, following her eye line and placing a hand against her back, seeming to understand why she was shaking so much. She nodded, appreciating the gesture and thrusting her shovel deep into the loose dirt as she rattled off a nonsensical prayer in her head: she wasn't sure whom to or who for but it made her feel a little better.

"I'm pretty sure this breaches the terms of my ASBO." Nathan joked.

"Is this really the time to be making jokes?" Alexis glared over at him.

"We don't tell anyone about this, yeah?" Kelly demanded and for a brief second, Alexis felt a stab of hatred hit her in the solar plexus: it was her. It was her fault they were doing this – if she'd have just left him on the floor instead of taking out some personal vendetta on his already concave skull then this-! But then Alexis remembered that wasn't fair and averted her eyes. Kelly had done this to try and protect them, otherwise it might have been one of them in the ditch instead, and she'd rather it was this way around then another. "About the storm or what it did to us or _anything_."

Oh. The storm. She'd actually forgotten about that… bizarre as it was.

"We're about to bury our probation worker, we don't need to be drawing any attention to ourselves."

"I don't want anyone to know. I cannot be a freak."

And that one line confirmed to Alexis that her and Alisha were from completely different worlds. That's what she was worried about…?

"What about you?" Kelly pointed to Curtis who was gazing down with a look not too far from the one Alexis had had when she had been staring at the dead bodies. Ah, so that's where his earlier compassion towards her had come from.

"There's no going back now, man. You're just as screwed as the rest of us. You're black _and _famous, you're probably more screwed." Nathan's racism aside, Alexis looked up at the tall boy next to her and watched the conflict that played quite obviously across his face.

"I shouldn't even be here." He spat and she knew that feeling.

"Just then, when he was touchin' ya… how were you doing that?"

"I don't know!" Alisha replied in exasperation as she began dropping her shovelfuls of soil onto the dead bodies.

"Didn't you say you wanted to piss on her tits?"

"Leave it." Alexis grumbled not really wanting to imagine all those disturbing images right now. She had plenty right in front of her.

"Probably best to keep that kind of thing between you and your internet service provider."

Simon looked confused; his eyes flickered from Nathan to Alexis and when he saw the disgusted look on her face he quickly went back to digging. What had he done? He couldn't quite remember, it all seemed to be lost in a red haze.

"Actually. Hold up." Alexis stood up straight, keeping a firm grip on her shovel handle and looking at each of them in turn as they all stopped to listen, "So you've all got some weird power. But me and him don't?" She jabbed her thumb over at Nathan, a weird twisted feeling in her stomach: something like jealousy and relief combined.

"Yeah. Everyone can do something except us. He can do something, _he_ can do something, and I can't. That's ridiculous, look at him! How does that make any sense?"

"You are so annoying." She hissed tempted to throw a handful of dirt in his face in retaliation for Simon.

"Maybe you can do something, you just haven't found out what it is yet."

"Yeah, right. What if… what if I can't feel pain? Ow!" Kelly's hand had just clipped him around the ear and he whined, shooting her a hurt expression as he held the side of his face.

"Did you feel that?"

"Stop hitting me."

"Keep hitting him." Alexis said.

When she stripped off her jumpsuit back at the community centre, it felt like she was shedding a filthy skin, her guilt and her conscious all in one go. Relief flooded her even if the mud and sweat had done a number to her make-up that made her feel strangely twitchy but finally being back in the clothes she had on earlier, before all this had happened, somehow made the scared pulse in the back of her head quieten.

As the misfits left one-by-one, they each managed to give her a farewell of some sort: a quiet nod from Curtis, a weak smile from Alisha, a small wave from Kelly and a half-hearted salute from Nathan. So shared experiences did create bonds… Alexis didn't seem to notice Simon's absence.

With her bag slung over shoulder, she walked out of the centre and to her surprise, he was there, waiting sheepishly for her at the entrance and flicking through his phone. Ah, now she remembered him, a small smile lighting up her face.

"Hi." She smiled stepping in front of him. He shoved his phone into his trousers, smiling awkwardly back at her.

"Can I – do you - do we… can I walk you? To your house… can I… _can I walk you home_?" he blurted out, flushing at his inability to even get a simple sentence out but her smile grew wider, finding his shyness quite charming.

And it had to be to make her genuinely smile after the day she'd had.

"Sure."

* * *

'_I came here today but I left here in darkness_

_And found you on the way.'_

Silver and Cold - AFI

* * *

**Thank you so much to everyone who's reviewed. Each and every one means the world to me so a hundred thousand thank yous for them! :)**

**However - a lot of people have this on alert, but I could _really _do with you guys reviewing too. C'mon, let a girl know what you like/dislike/don't understand. Gimme some feedback. I'd appreciate it so much, and the more reviews equal more enthusiasm which equals more updates. And who doesn't want that? ;D **

**Oh! And I don't know if it's just being odd to me but it seemed like all my line-partition things disappeared when I uploaded so I've tried to fix them. I'm sorry if without them it made the story a little confusing. I suck with technology. :/ H-xo**


	6. Chapter 5

**Chapter Five: The Start of Something**

That walk home was hardly the most animated or conversational Alexis had ever had but surprisingly, it was nowhere near as bad or as awkward as she had originally thought it'd be. At first Simon had remained tight-lipped, offering her either brief shakes of his head or one-worded answers and Alexis tried not to talk it personally (though the teenage girl part of her did). She had once been like him, unsure and socially uncomfortable and a _victim, _and she knew from experience it was something that took time and friendship and some genuine affection to overcome; she couldn't promise him that – she couldn't even promise herself that – but up to now, she saw no reason not to try.

"So what do you do?" Alexis tried for conversation again, hoping a subject change might spark something in him and his vocal chords.

"What… do you mean?"

"Like… do you do sports?" He didn't look the sporty type. "Or do you do music? Or cooking? Ya know, hobbies."

There was a pause as he thought, carefully arranging the words in his head.

"I like photography. And I like films and filming. I was really good at Media at school and I've just kinda carried on with it."

"Oh, awesome. What kind of things do you film?"

"Anything. Everything." He realised that was a little vague and attempted to narrow it down. "I like filming people." And now he sounded like a stalker slash amateur porno maker. "What about you? What do you do?"

"Me? Ah, the typical stuff. Reading, music, photography, friends. I do really like films though." She stressed the last point trying to present him with a platform of common ground for them to start a friendship from; he sensed it and smiled at her effort knowing just how difficult he was sometimes.

"What kind of music?"

Alexis was initially surprised at his question seeing as it was the first he had asked without some sort of prompt or without simply firing her own back at her.

"Oh, erm… gosh, I dunno. It's hard to explain. Like, I like top forty stuff but then I like all the kinda indie stuff and all the rocky stuff too. Imagine like, the Leeds band list, that kinda stuff."

_What_? Simon smiled at her attempt to articulate her preferred genre, thinking it sounded oddly as confused and vague as something he'd say.

"You?"

"Joy Division." He expected her to not know who they were but she nodded, a tilt turning up the corners of her lips. "Kartwerk. That kind of thing."

"The Smiths?"

He nodded.

Yeah, she could see that 'cause if Nathan reminded her of 'No scrubs' by TLC, then Simon was definitely something smarter and more poetic and music focused: like Joy Division or Bright Eyes or maybe even Death Cab for Cutie. Hm… Marching Bands of Manhattan or We Looked Like Giants?

She was about to ask his opinion on the latter band and their songs when they turned the corner into her road, now only four houses away from hers and all thoughts of music were wiped from her mind with a new one taking front and centre in her head: one focused on having a hot, relaxing bath as soon as possible.

"We're here." She spun on her heel at the end of her drive, smiling softly. "So I'll see you tomorrow, yeah?"

He nodded firmly.

"Cool…" Awkwardness filled the air around them as both searched for something, anything to say. "Oh yeah, do you have Facebook?"

That wasn't what he expected but again, he nodded.

A brief pause.

"… Are you going to tell me your last name so I can add you?"

"O-oh right. Erm, Simon Bellamy."

"Simon Bellamy. Got'cha. Anyways, see ya later." And with a wink and a smile, she began walking towards her front door. Simon tried to watch her as best he could as he pulled out his iPod, unravelling the headphones and placing them into his ears. Then he was walking away.

"Oi! Hey Simon!" She called after his retreating figure, running back up the driveway and he stopped, turning his head over his shoulder and unplugging an earphone, "Thank you!"

The smile that lit his face up chased away the shadows that lurked half-hidden in his eyes.

* * *

**Alexis Gregory** is now friend with** Simon Bellamy**, **Curtis Donovan **and **3 others.**

**

* * *

**

**Alexis Gregory **has had the worst day ever. Like, seriously. EVER.

- (**Nathan Young **and **7 other people **like this.)

**- Alexis Gregory: **You like this? Man, you guys are sadistic taking pleasure from my pain.

**- Louise Hewitt: **The thought of you suffering at community service is making my entire life. Bud, the image is hilarious.

**- Alexis Gregory: **Do you want the photos from NYE to magically appear on fb?

**- Louise Hewitt: **… No. So sorry mistress. *bows at Ali's feet*

**- Nathan Young: **plz tell me u two r lesbos.

**- Lewis Hewitt:** maybe…

**- Alexis Gregory:** NO! Louise do not encourage him. Nathan get off my status

**- Nathan Young:** if u didnt want me u shouldnt have accepted my f.r

**- Alexis Gregory:** touche…

**- Nathan Young:** ;)

* * *

**Curtis Donovan **thinks community service is shit.

- (**Alexis Gregory, Kelly Jones **and **2 others **like this.)

**- Nathan Young: **i happen to disagree with this. im lovin all the pussy.

**- Kelly Jones: **FUCK OFF

**- Curtis Donovan:** amen

**- Alexis Gregory:** holla

* * *

**Alisha Bailey **needs a drink. Vodka anyone?

- (**Alexis Gregory, Curtis Donovan** and **19 others** like this.)

* * *

**Kelly Jones **hates cumin home 2 a empty ouse. just need a hug

**- Nathan Young: **you can always 'cum' over 2 mine

**- Kelly Jones:** LEAVE ME ALONE im gnna block ya

* * *

**Nathan Young **is lovin all the ASBO clunge

**- Alexis Gregory: **DISLIKE

**- Kelly Jones: **ur a fuckn nob.

**- Alisha Bailey: **I swear i'm gonna end up punching you in the face

**- Curtis Donovan: **I would pay to see that

- (**Simon Bellamy, Alisha Bailey **and** 2 others **like this.)

* * *

**Simon Bellamy **thinks today has been very weird.

**- Nathan Young: **not as weird as u

**- Alexis Gregory: **gtfo. Nobody wants you on their statuses.

- (**Simon Bellamy, Curtis Donovan **and** 2 others **like this.)

**- Nathan Young:** D':

* * *

**Alexis Gregory **to **Simon Bellamy – **I've stolen your phone number from your info; I hope that's okay! Oh, **Nathan Young, Kelly Jones, Curtis Donovan **and **Alisha Bailey **that means you too. Sorry, but there's no secrets between young offenders. I'll text you all later. xo

- (**Simon Bellamy **and** Nathan Young **like this.)

**- Curtis Donovan: **I'm aight with that.

**- Alisha Bailey:** so long as you don't dick around with it

**- Kelly Jones: **whateva

**- Alexis Gregory: **thanks guys, nice to know you're bothered.

**- Simon Bellamy: **I am

**- Alexis Gregory: **:D

**- Simon Bellamy: **:)

**- Nathan Young: ***gags*

* * *

Alexis yawned as she hit the send button on her mobile: _Five text messages sent. _

Checking one last time that her alarm was switched on, she turned her mobile off, and flicked the switch on her bedside lamp. Another yawn left her as she snuggled beneath her duvet, desperately trying to block out all negative thoughts of today which proved much easier said than done.

Flashes of blood and glass and soil and lightning and big, red words raced eagerly through her mind, haunting her vindictively with their indications, meanings, memories. She rolled over, cursing the past two days. She had never wanted this, she had just wanted to be normal and preferably not a criminal, but you know, shit happens and she could deal with that but not _this. _Murder. She was now a murderer… or at least an accessory.

Close to tears, she shoved her head under her duvet, trying to find comfort in the cocoon of darkness and warmth and somehow, combined with her exhaustion, she managed to drift off into an uneasy sleep.

* * *

"I don't know about you guys but I did not sleep at all last night." Alexis groaned, knocking her head into the wall and trying to work up the effort to raise her can of Fanta to her lips. Right now she was just too tired to even try.

"Same." Kelly murmured, dropping her head backwards, "My arms are aching so bad."

"Hmm…" Alisha hummed, her arms folded along the back of her chair, head resting on them and eyes closed. Alexis was close to copying her but Curtis appeared at the doorway, a small curve coming to his lips as he looked at the three sleepy girls.

"Yo. There's a new probation worker, she says she wants to speak to us."

Alexis' head shot up, nerves prickling along her skin. Shit shit shit.

"Did she say about what?"

"Nah," he shrugged, "but I can guess."

She nodded, getting to her feet and taking eager gulps from her can as she followed after the tall boy. Now she definitely had the effort: she was so going to need all that fizzy orange juice for courage if this was heading where they all _knew _it was.

A small, pale woman with long brown hair, dressed all in grey was waiting for them in the main foyer of the community centre, observant eyes taking them each in in turn. Alexis moved to stand next to Simon, waiting as Alisha stood on her other side and the others arranged themselves into a long line of orange suits.

"I'm Sally and I'm here because I have some questions about your probation worker, Tony?" The lady said but Alexis wasn't looking at her. She had her eyes on the ceiling, counting backwards from a hundred to try and keep any guilt from straying onto her face – boredom was less incriminating than dilated, fearful pupils."Gary and my colleague Tony have both been reported missing. Their families are very worried about them. Have you seen anything unusual? Anything at all?"

Alexis hadn't needed reminding of the fact that they had families: they had all come and taunted her in her nightmares last night. And then to her (and everyone else's) surprise, their attention was drawn to the left when Nathan raised his arm.

"You saw something?" Sally asked and Alexis tried to arrange a normal amount of interest on her face when in reality her insides were twisting nervously. What the fuck was he doing?

"A few days ago… I go into the toilets, Tony and Gary were in there. They were butt naked, Tony has Gary by his hair like this, and he's just doing him. Doggy style. And Tony is like 'Woah. Who's your daddy? I'm your daddy, I'm Big Daddy. You like that? Oh. Whoo! Whoa. Oh yeah, oh yeah, oh yeah, oh yeah… I'm Daddy Cool!'" And with one final spanking motion Nathan finally stopped his charade, throwing his hands onto his hips and inclining his head. "So I'm guessing they've ran away to continue their illicit homosexual affair. And I ask you, in this world of intolerance and prejudice, who are we – who are _we _to condemn them?"

A deadly silence followed his rant as they all tried to compute what the hell he had just said. The boy was absolutely retarded. Really, why would he do that? Now Sally was glaring at them, arms folded and suspicion written all over her face and when she walked off, all eyes snapped over to the idiot.

"Well played." Alexis snapped, shaking her head and beginning to walk away from the group. Unaware to it, her feet led her through corridors until she reached the doorway that hid the staircase to the roof and opening it, she began climbing, anticipating the moment she'd meet the cold air. The door fell with a bang behind her and she sighed, raising her arms over her head and stretching. All this shit had her so worn out like fabric stretched far too thin.

"Are you okay?"

She jumped at Simon's voice, twisting around so she could see him while letting out a small gasp in relief.

"Oh, it's you. How did you…?" And then she remembered he could turn invisible and had probably ninja'd after her silently, the cheeky little… she grinned, "Ah, those super powers that've conveniently skipped me and Nathan... Wonder why?"

It didn't take a genius to hear the envy in her voice despite her best attempts at trying to keep it hushed and quiet in her tone. How did she say she wanted a power too because at least then she'd have gained something from this mess instead of just losing, losing, losing? Luckily for her she didn't need to. Simon was a master at reading people and she was like an open book to his eager eyes.

"I think you have a power. You just need to find it." Hesitantly he took a few steps closer to her, their shoulders accidentally brushing as they both stared out at the skyline before them: bricks, and water, and sky.

"I hope so." Finally - she had admitted it, she had said it out loud and she felt better for it. Yes, she wanted a power too. They turned their heads towards each other at the same moment, an almost identical melancholic, regretful smile on their faces that was more than enough assurance that they were on the same page, that this had the potential to be a real friendship.

"Thank you." She said softly, attempting to smile a little wider before turning back to the horizon.

Simon kept his eyes trained on her profile as he tried to think of something to reply with: he needed something helpful, something worthwhile, something meaningful because she was the first person he had truly believed when they thanked him and he didn't want to let her down.

The others saved him the trouble of trying to find his desired, suitable response when they pushed open the door, chattering and talking away like they didn't have a care in the world, like they hadn't just buried their probation worker the day before as they walked towards them.

"Eh, eh. What's this?" Nathan grinned shoving his body between theirs and wrapping long arms around their shoulders. Alexis rolled her eyes, secretly finding comfort in the solidity and warmth of his figure, leaning involuntarily into him while Simon merely shrugged himself out of the hold.

Nathan didn't take his arm back from her. Instead he used his other hand to search for a cigarette which, when found, he placed into his mouth before rooting in his pocket for a lighter. Somehow (with a skill only a truly professional smoker has) Nathan managed to light it one-handed, inhaling deeply on the first drag.

"I think we got away with it." He grinned around his fag.

All six of them were in a row along the edge of the building, eyes on the small grey figure of Sally beneath them.

"Do you actually believe that or are you just really dumb?"

"I actually believe that."

Alexis laughed, tucking her head a little more into his chest and needing to feel the vibrations of those chuckles. It helped everything seem a little more normal.

"… I mean, I was there. I should have one of these bullshit powers. So should she."

Quickly, Alexis' head snapped up and she moved away from his embrace, folding her arms over her chest and glaring at the clouds. Not again – she wasn't going over this all over again because dammit! she felt like a jealous little kid and that was pathetic when you thought about the fact that she had helped kill her probation worker.

"You can have mine. You want to hear what people are thinking about you?"

"Not so much. I want something good, something from the A-list."

"Maybe you can fly." Simon offered and Alexis had the image of Nathan plummeting from the building to his death. No! She'd had enough of death to last her a lifetime.

"He's not going to be able to fly." Alisha snapped and Simon looked away nervously.

"Yeah… there's always someone who can fly. Check it out."

"Don't."

Nathan was apparently unperturbed by the group's general lack of enthusiasm for the idea and shoved his fag at Alexis before rushing over to one of the random chairs that littered the roof, hopping up onto it easily. In one smooth leap, he floated through the air and crashed into the floor.

"Ow! No, that's not it. Are you gonna try, Lexi?"

Alexis ignored the nickname that was already in use by her little sister and instead took a long drag from his cigarette, savouring the nicotine that floated idyllic through her veins to her head. Now was not the time to be a quitter. "No. No, I'm not because I'm not an idiot."

Alisha and Curtis, and even Simon, snickered at her but she hadn't been trying to be funny, she was just fed up.

"So what's gonna happen now? It this it? Are we gonna be like this forever?" First Curtis spoke and then Simon:

"What if we are meant to be like, superheroes?"

"You lot, superheroes? No offence, but in what kind of fucked-up world would that be allowed to happen?" Nathan said in disbelief and Alexis found herself agreeing. Of all of them to ignore giving a power to, she understood skipping him… but her? Really? She was probably the smartest choice. Stupid lightning. "Superheroes! I love this guy – _you prick_!"

"What if there's loads of people like us all over town?" Kelly tilted her head to the side in thought.

"Nah, that kind of thing only happens in America. This'll fade away. I'm telling you, by this time next week, it'll be back to the same old boring shit."

If only they had known just how wrong Nathan was.

* * *

In just one week the effect of the lightning strike was already visible – and not just with their weird-ass superpowers. There was a bond between them now and although it could hardly be claimed that they were all _friends, _there was definitely something there, some bizarre link gluing them all together. Some were stronger and some still developing and community service was a hell of a lot more entertaining and interesting for it.

Nathan was still a clown, finding pleasure in taunting Simon, (un)intentionally winding up Kelly and flirting with Alexis (who was confusing the shite out of him) and there was a part of him much more perturbed at his lack of power than he let on, hiding it all beneath his bullet-proof façade.

Curtis still found Nathan the most annoying wanker like… _ever_ but found he could forget about him in the secret smiles and teasing, playful words of Alisha that he hoped would lead to something he wouldn't eventually regret. And some of the others were aight too.

Alisha was still having difficulty adjusting to her curfew (well, when she bothered with it) and wearing a minging orange jumpsuit, but she'd admit, some of the group were okay. Especially Curtis… who yeah, was a little fit.

Kelly still felt misunderstood and judged within the group but found relief in the fact then when the other misfits looked at her, their thoughts didn't revolve around chavs and scallys anymore (but with Nathan, sometimes they were about shagging her which was just as bad in her opinion. She was _not_ a slag).

Alexis found the other misfits didn't actually annoy her as much as she originally thought they would. That actually, some of them were rather nice and she'd been a little trigger-happy when it came to judging them (especially Kelly who was actually quite sweet behind the gold chains and harsh slang). She was, however, still mighty confused about Nathan – as in, she half-fancied, half-loathed him but luckily found she could always be soothed by the cool, soft voice of Simon. Oh, and she was still pissed off at the lightning for ignoring her.

And Simon, he was on his way to getting a friend – a real friend – who made this time a hell of a lot more bearable; Nathan treated him pretty awfully and sometimes her or Kelly would stick up for him which he appreciated… and then he'd see the way Alexis would look at Nathan and it made him feel a little sick – who would want someone like him? He was mean!

But Alexis found she did. She tried to stick up for Simon as much as possible but sometimes she had to let things slide; if she was on Nathan's case _all the time _(which was when he was verbally abusing Simon) she'd basically be non-stop nagging him. And nagging a boy like Nathan was relationship suicide and Alexis wasn't quite ready to murder their budding… _thing _so early. Not when she didn't even know what she wanted from it.

Because as much as she hated to admit it, her mind wasn't quite made up just yet.

* * *

'_She said: 'Are you crazy? You don't even know me.'_

_I said: 'I know but I'd like to change that soon, hopefully.'_

_(Settle precious, I know what you're going through _'_cause ten minutes before you got here, I was gonna jump too).'_

Self-conclusion – The Spill Canvas

* * *

**EURGH. The formatting on this took freakin' ages and is still not working; Honey is most un-fucking-impressed. Can anyone help? Or is it just me being virtually bullied by the website? Either way, sorry. I did try and centre my things. I. Hate. Technology. It. Hates. Me.**

**And I would love to say a huge thank you to everyone who has reviewed/favourited/alerted but in paticular to **Law1892 **who was my first reviewer and has reviewed on all my new chapters. Thank you! So c'mon guys, keep 'em coming. Surely if you can alert you can also hit a few keys and lemme know what you think? ****This is also the last chapter I have fully typed up so from here on out I'm relying on you and your reviews for pressure to spew the next chapters out and onto the internet. Go on guyssssss ;)**

**But yes! Finally! The start of **_**something **_**between Ali and Simon (because yeah, just to clear things up, this is going to be a SimonOC story). ****Ah, but what's this? Is that a springy-haired Irish I spy getting in the way of the two by confusing Alexis' brain up with his electric charisma and annoying mistreatment of others? The poor girl is split in two: hate him or love him. And I can't lie – if I was in her shoes I think I'd be just as puzzled.**

**Don't worry. She sorts her head out soon… ish :) H-xo**

_(And I also want to apologise about the flow of this chapter; the last section was actually the start of the next chapter but due to the ever-growing word count on Chapter Six I switched it in over here. I hope it wasn't _too _awkward to read.)_


	7. Chapter 6

**Chapter Six: Dinosaur Disco**

"Yum. Litter picking…" Alexis said sarcastically, waving her picker up in the air as her and the group slowly meandered through the estate, not actually picking up a whole lot of _anything_ between them. Okay, so she knew that this was the kind of mundane task she was meant to do during community service, but really? Litter picking…? Damn, the local area was gonna be so much better afterwards. Not.

Currently Nathan was trying to taunt the others into using their powers, much to the group's collective annoyance and displeasure, poking at them with pickers and snarky words but only managing to wind himself up further. This boy… he was an idiot.

"And what? 'Cause you're all special and I'm not? She's not?" He prodded his picker into Alexis' arse and she yelped in both surprise and annoyance, turning to glare at the boy as his face lit up in amusement. She sped up to stand next to Simon. At least he wasn't likely to sexually harass her. Or remind her of the fact that she seemed to lack a super-special-awesome ability.

"Yeah, well, I doubt it. You can think what you like but I have a super power," he made quotation marks in the air with his fingers, "and I just need to find out what it is."

"Maybe you're just super retarded." Alisha snapped.

Alexis agreed, hoped, imagined. Why did he keep rattling on about this? She had (tried) consoling herself to the fact that her body obviously did not conduct bizarre, power inducing lightning strikes very well so why couldn't he? And why did he have to keep bringing her into his rant too? She did not appreciate it and oh God, he was still going on with himself…

"Maybe I've got like, a whole Spider Man vibe going on. You know, maybe I can climb stuff and do spider shit."

"Yeah, 'cause that makes perfect sense. Why would you be able to climb stuff?" Curtis responded, glaring at the boy next to him in a futile attempt to get him to shut the fuck up. Jesus.

"I don't know. How is it that you can turn back time a_pparently?_" Nathan retorted sarcastically to the taller boy before shoving his picker between Alexis and Simon, clicking it in the latter's face. "And weird kid can turn invisible? It's not like this whole situation is backed up by a wank-load of logic."

Alexis had to agree. If it was, surely she'd have a power too. (Gosh, she wanted one so bad!)

Curtis simply shot the curly haired youth the finger before speeding up his pace to get away from him until he was at the head of the pack, leading them down a flight of stairs so they were on the ground level of the estate: the area full of peculiar tunnels and darkened garages and gated passages. Alexis hated this bit: it was scarily easy to get lost and you could never quite know what was around the corner here.

Conversation had fizzled out between the six, none of them quite feeling the need to speak in case it drove Nathan to begin another one of his random rants; they simply contented themselves with listening to their MP3 players or not really (in the case of Simon especially) knowing what to say anyway. Instead, they all began trying to shove as much rubbish as they could be bothered into their black bin bags.

Oh, Tony would have been so proud of them.

"Eurgh. What is that?" Curtis cried out of nowhere, looking off to the far side of the tunnel they were currently in, a look of disgust and confusion on his face. Alexis turned her head to follow his eye line and felt her eyebrows rise in surprise at the sight: that of a naked, hairy man seemingly passed out, turned away from them all. Well that wasn't normal. Or attractive. Or safe for that matter.

As a group they edged towards him, faces contorted in a bizarre mix of bemusement and repulsion, none of them really grasping what they were seeing. Was this dude… was he dead?

"Is he breathing?" Kelly asked, seeming to read Alexis's mind – not that that would have surprised her… maybe she had?

Wordlessly Alisha took a step closer, stretching her arm out until her picker was in range to prod him in the ass. She giggled softly when she did and nothing seemed to happen, turning her head to look at the rest of the group for further options who simply shrugged uselessly (or in the case of Nathan, snickered).

"Hey, nude guy! You're naked!" She said loudly over him, and her voice must have woken him up because he drowsily rolled towards them, legs open and _everything_ on display. Alexis' eyes widened at the sight of his er… _him_ as she took a step backwards. She choked out a spluttered 'oh!' in time with the other misfits, all of their voices soon descending into derisive giggles and confused laughter at the sight of the naked stranger's gigantic cock. Simon took a quick snap on his mobile.

"Oh my God!" Alisha laughed eyeing his rather huge appendage as the man blinked blearily, a moment of disbelief and puzzlement in his eyes as his brain slowly began ticking over and realised what was occurring. And it seemed that when he did, Nathan understood something too.

"You?" He cried out, his finger aimed at the man and eyes wide as nausea swooped down his chest, through his stomach.

The action brought the man's attention to him and his own scared gaze grew. He struggled to rush to his feet, spinning away from them all and sprinting out through the tunnel like a bat out of hell despite Nathan yelling "hey!" at his back. Nathan took a few steps after him, and the man stumbled, much to the amusement of Curtis and Alisha whose laughter grew louder and louder.

"Do you want to tell us who that was?" Curtis' words were still laced with mirth and Nathan spun around to address the group.

"He's my mum's… he lives with my mum."

Alisha giggled before aiming her picker at Nathan, completely serious as she said: "Your stepdad has got a _massive _cock."

Alexis found she couldn't keep in anymore laughter, despite the pained look on Nathan's face and burst into it, her chuckles bleeding and blending into the others; Simon was staring at his phone with a look of awe and shock in his eyes, silent as he regarded it with something akin to morbid curiosity.

"_Jesus! _And he's not my stepdad, alright?"

Alisha tapped her hand onto Alexis' arm, leaning in a little closer to her but still looking at Nathan as words tumbled from her mouth: "Did you see that thing? That was _monster _big." A change came to her voice, one of faux concern and amusement, "Your mum'll hurt."

"La, la, la, la – _shut up!_" Nathan shouted out, shoving his fingers into his ears.

"Why's he naked?" Kelly demanded.

"Well, he's obviously some kind of pervert… or he's gay." Alisha replied with that wisdom only she could possess that somehow managed to surprise Alexis every time. She was grateful for the fact that her and Curtis seemed to share similar ideas when he responded smoothly:

"That follows."

"What? He was cruising for rough trade. They love that shit."

"Oh, a little light homophobia. Go for it."

"How many gay people do you actually know?" Alexis spluttered in disbelief, arms folded and an eyebrow raised.

"Or he could be a rapist. There's _loads _of them round here." Kelly supplied, a worrying amount of acceptance and honesty in her voice.

"Maybe he's a werewolf…" Simon offered sincerely.

Everyone, including Alexis, pulled a face at his contribution, confused as to how the fuck he even came up with that. Nathan was the first to vocalise his opinion on it.

"Twat."

Simon's eyes flickered around at each of them, "It's what happens in films. You turn into a werewolf, you kill someone, then you wake up somewhere naked… like a zoo."

"He's not a werewolf, alright? This guy is such a pussy he needs my mum to open jars for him. I'm sure if he was a werewolf he'd be able to open a jar of peanut butter for himself." Nathan mimed opening one, his voice tight.

"Or it might be to do with the fact werewolves don't exist?" Alexis offered.

"What happens if the storm messed him up?" Kelly said.

Nathan sighed. "That's bollocks. What are the chances?"

Time for them to finish up their work was fast approaching, and maybe it was the fact they'd already had enough excitement for one day with their hairy, naked interlude, but they all decided to head back early, murmuring theories and anecdotes (usually focusing on either naked, gay and or hairy people) softly to each other.

Simon still had his phones in his hands, a little raised up and following the movements of each misfit in turn. Alexis nudged him playfully with her elbow, winking.

"So is Nathan's stepdad's cock your new screensaver?"

"Wh-What? No!" Simon blustered out, a red blush creeping over his face as he and his camera both turned to face her, a plea in his voice for her to believe him and a fear in his eyes that maybe she wouldn't. Why did people always seem to think the worst of him?

But she only laughed, a wide smile taking place on her lips when they died away and with a jolt of understanding and happiness, Simon realised that she had only been playing and joking with him - like you would a friend, like he was _her friend._

He focused his camera determinedly on her, wanting to capture this moment for forever.

* * *

Alexis toyed with one of the bracelets on her right wrist, twirling it around and around by the clasp as she tried her best to take in the chaotic old people… _mess_ of the community centre.

The hall had been filled with several circular tables covered in pink cotton tablecloths with white china teapot sets and plates of biscuits on top, beige chairs surrounding their perimetre. A space in the middle of the room had been made into a sort of OAP dance floor, complete with spinning, glowing disco ball above their heads that was throwing distracting prisms of light around the room - still not distracting enough to deter the eye away from the crowd of elderly people taking up the space and making it smell oddly musty and ancient and well, like _old people_.

But really…? Community service now equalled babysitting pensioners?

"Help out: talk to them, make sure everyone's having a good time." Sally spoke to the line of six before her, indicating the room to their unimpressed gazes. Not one of them budged an inch. Exasperation was clear in her voice when she next snapped: "Move!"

Shuffling her feet Alexis walked past the older woman while Nathan's sneaky finger prodded at her waist, making her twist and giggle away from him despite trying her hardest to keep her amusement and ticklishness hidden, because he definitely needed no more encouragement.

Aimlessly wandering, she found herself, Nathan and Kelly soon stood by what (she hoped) was a sleeping old man in a wheelchair, and in another one of those growingly annoying situations, Kelly seemed to read her mind and vocalise the question burning there.

"Is he dead?"

At the same time as Kelly began leaning on the chair before the guy, Nathan leant down a little, hands on his knees as he shouted into the man's ear: "She's stealing your pension!"

The old man jumped, startled out of his wits and blinked blearily at the three of them.

"Nathan, really?" Alexis scolded, shaking her head as he spun his around to face them, grinning at the two girls like he was a performing seal who had just done exceptionally well.

"No, he's fine."

"Gah. You're so annoying." Alexis tossed her hair over her shoulder and marched away, impartial to the half-confused, half-annoyed face of Nathan and the purely annoyed one of Kelly.

Okay, so Kelly did kinda like Alexis even though it was fairly obvious they were from completely different worlds – you just had to look at their friends on Facebook: Kelly's mates had bizarre characters inserted into their names whilst Alexis' had names like 'Worthington' and 'Hewitt'. And Kelly liked the fact that as sweet as Alexis looked, with her big eyes and pouty mouth, she wasn't as much of a walk-over as she seemed at first appearances. But dear Lord, she could whine like a pro when she wanted to, internally and externally, and if Kelly heard her bitching anymore she was gonna scream; someone needed to lighten her up and stop her from focusing so much on herself!

Alexis was oblivious to Kelly's analysis of her as she edged herself over to one of the emptier tables, taking a seat across from a little old lady who looked like the perfect caricature of a grandma - all permed, fluffy white hair, lilac cardigan, pearl necklace, kind, albeit slightly dim, smile in place - taking a sip from a cup of tea. The smile was returned briefly before Alexis was staring out over the room.

Curtis was dancing with another old lady, smiling at her warmly as they moved around and around together and Alexis found herself grinning at the sweetness of it.

Simon had, at some point, obviously been kidnapped and coerced into dancing too, moving his body like an epileptic robot with all the awkwardness of someone who had never danced in public before.

Alisha was standing off at the other side of the room, phone out in front of her and tapping out a quick text message with boredom in her eyes and her teeth worrying at her bottom lip.

Kelly was still sat across from the earlier wheelchair bound man, arms folded defensively but speaking to him nonetheless.

And Nathan had somehow managed to attach himself to the only woman in the room under thirty whom he didn't know, handing her a platter of sausage rolls and smiling at her in a way that was remarkably similar to one he would shoot her (or Kelly, or Alisha, or any woman) when he attempted to flirt with them. Poorly.

"Are you two courting?" A soft voice from across the table suddenly said, fingers still wrapped around the handle of a cup. Alexis quickly turned to face the older lady, shaking her head violently when the question finally computed in her brain.

"No, no. God no!" Her voice held a harshness that surprised her, so she took a deep breath, shooting the lady an apologetic smile as she opened her mouth again. "We're not even friends, really. I mean, he's an absolute… _idiot_."

"That's not what your eyes say."

"My eyes are lying." Alexis murmured, tracing shapes across the table cloth before raising her eyes up to the other woman's, trying to convey that she was a hundred percent definitive in what she said: she did not like Nathan in _any _way.

"Ah, well that's a shame because such beautiful green eyes shouldn't deceive people."

Alexis' gaze snapped up again, a frown creased into her forehead.

Firstly: she hated people complimenting her. Secondly: she hated it even more when they did it and didn't even get the feature in question correct. And thirdly: what did this woman care about her feelings for Nathan? Couldn't she just leave her alone and stop prying? There were so many more interesting things she'd like to do on a Thursday afternoon than converse with strangers. Especially strangers from a completely different time period, with completely ridiculous notions and completely unrealistic expectations for the 'youth of today'.

But then she caught sight of Sally glaring across the room at her and realised just how overdramatic she was being - just because her own Grandmother was an irritating, controlling, hounding bitch didn't mean all old people were.

Another deep breath, another smile, another attempt at not being such a self-conscious crazy.

"Oh. Haha. Erm, thank you." She began nervously, now trailing her fingers over the rim of a cup.

"Well if you haven't a liking for that boy, the pale one over there seems to have taken one to you. He keeps looking your way."

Alexis turned her head slightly, looking the way the lady had indicated and just as expected, there was Simon, locked in an uncomfortable embrace as he continued dancing, blue eyes wide and a little scared and aimed over at her like she was his only chance at escape.

She shot him a quick smile and a wave, slightly amused by his obvious discomfort.

"Haha. No, not Simon. He's like a puppy that's been kicked a little too often. I think he just doesn't hate me… if you know what I mean." She sighed, knowing she was hardly the best at articulating her thoughts into speech but knowing inside what she meant, and feeling a huge wave of sympathy for him as it all began to make a little more sense.

She knew what it was like to be bullied, what an impact it took on someone.

And Simon… he must have been fucked up big style, well beyond anything she had ever experienced. Alexis shifted in her seat, feeling a little claustrophobic as she thought more and more about what must have happened, and to what extent, to make him so… socially inept, so nervous, so autistic-like.

And then she felt guilty as she remembered the way her and the other misfits had treated him for it.

"Sorry, I think my, er, friend wants me. I'm just gonna," she indicated vaguely to the other side of the room, "I'm just gonna go."

And with a fake smile plastered over her face, she shot up and dashed away.

* * *

Simon fiddled nervously with the zipper on his suit. His eyes were trained solely on the floor under him, eagerly trying to memorise every crack and flaw in the tile beneath his feet to memory, despite his skin itching from the feel of her eyes on him.

Unaware to everyone in the room, and probably herself (he guessed from the lightning fast flicker of her eyes) Alexis kept glancing over at him, a heavy, clouded look filling her pupils. It looked scarily like regret – or maybe sympathy? – and it made him feel so terribly uncomfortable.

Nobody ever looked at him like that - he wasn't used to it and he didn't like it - because sympathy was too close to pity, which was too close to pathetic, and he didn't need anyone else making him feel like that: everyone else in the world did. _He did_.

Something wasn't right. Something had obviously changed. He could see it so easily in the darkness of her eyes, the strain in her eyebrows, the tightness in her lips. Something had happened in the past few hours and, evidently from her silence, she was trying so desperately to pretend otherwise, betrayed by the reflex signals from her ever-expressive eyes and involuntary body language. Simon simply tried to accept it and ignore it, even as a certain curiosity crept upon him.

He'd let her have her secrets; he had enough of his own.

"Someone knows."

Finally, Alexis' gaze was dragged away from him and onto Curtis at his words, granting Simon a few seconds to consider her critically – something had _definitely _changed – before he too stared the taller boy's way.

"They know we killed out probation worker."

"Is this a wind-up?" Kelly questioned as she shut her locker door, her eyebrows furrowed in evident annoyance, "Is this you?"

"Who else would it be?" Alexis sighed as she bent over, pulling on her low-top Converse and paying no attention to the curly-haired boy on her left and the threat of the words on the poster because it was obviously Nathan being a turd. Duh.

Nathan let out a snort.

"If I was trying to wind you up, I'd think I'd be a little more creative. _I know what film you saw last summer."_

"This isn't funny!" Kelly snapped back at him, as Alexis lifted her head and watched his face carefully. She imagined Nathan was a pretty shit liar; he exposed his heart on his sleeve – a little too much sometimes – and she hoped it would work to her advantage. Now and in the future.

"If I wanted to freak you out, I would have dug up the body and stuck that in your locker!" Nathan replied, placing his hand onto his chest with a look of such earnest defence in his eyes that Alexis had no reason _not _to believe him. But if he didn't than who did? And why the hell did no one else seem to be perturbed by this?

"If it wasn't him, who was it?" Simon asked from behind her and she couldn't help burbling out, like his voice was a trigger to her spilling all her fears out into words, "Oh my God. Someone knows. What are we going to _do_?"

"Nothing." Nathan said firmly, "We've all done stuff. They could have been talking about anything."

"Well, it's your locker." Alisha shot at Curtis, as he stared hard at each of them, his voice lined with certainty.

"This was meant for all of us. They're talking about the probation worker."

"Okay, okay. Let's just say you're right – if they actually knew anything, they wouldn't be dicking around, sticking notes on lockers. They would have gone to the police and we'd all be getting gang-raped in the showers."

"That's true." Alexis breathed, gazing up at Nathan with wide eyes like he held all the answers (or maybe it was in surprise at his apparent logic). She flushed as everyone turned to look at her, eyebrows raised, "I mean the police bit, not the gang-rape."

Nathan grinned at her embarrassment, "But this, this means that they have no evidence, no proof, nothing. And anyway, I'm guessing it's about some other totally unrelated shit that you've done. So – if we're all done freaking out here, over nothing, there's somewhere I need to be."

And with a smirk at having got the last word in, Nathan flounced from the room.

As the door clicked shut, Curtis angrily said:

"Please tell me you don't actually believe that prick."

"Well whoever did it is just trying to freak us out, right? So we just act normal." Kelly retorted, shutting the door to her locker with a sharp snap.

Alexis stood up. This all seemed to antagonise the guilt in her belly regarding Simon, churning it into even tighter coils and making her brain buzz desperately, annoyingly with too much stress and anxiety. She was so worn out.

* * *

It was her turn to wait for him at the end of the day.

"Hi Simon!" She smiled a little too brightly at him, waved her hand a little too erratically, faltered a little too often, her fake mask of carefree ease slipping away as she did so. Maybe it was because of what had happened in the longer room; he knew it was more than that.

He nodded slowly in greeting at her.

"Do you mind walking me home?"

With a slow nod of his head, he tried to arrange all his thoughts of _her _and _this _into some sort of systematic order so he could gather up all the necessary information and understand this and, maybe more importantly, to figure out _why_ it was happening.

People didn't willingly want to be with him. She did. People didn't look at him like. She did. Eyes clouded up with something he wasn't used to; something that looked a lot like sympathy and ever more like realisation, like maybe she was seeing him properly for the first time.

And that was it. She finally was.

Alexis knew she was just as guilty as the others for judging him, looking at that tightened jaw and simply seeing a weird kid who looked a lot closer to the sociopath side of the scale than was kind of normal. But today, after seeing him looking to her for an escape, all those jigsaw pieces in her head fitted together and managed to form some sort of coherent picture.

He was lonely; so much lonelier than she had ever been and it showed. It scared her.

And she knew it would take time – a hell of a long time – but something in Alexis had caved, had given in and now… now she was determined to try and wipe away all the fear and apathy from the contours of his face, and let him know that not everyone in the world was quite as destructive and selfish and painful as the people (she guessed) he had experienced.

* * *

_She's beautiful as usual with bruises on her ego._

Pretty Girl (The Way) - Sugarcult

* * *

**HER POWER IS COMING. I SWEAR. **

**Anyway, this chapter killed me; it just did not want to be written so I apologise in advance for its shoddiness. Sometimes the words just won't come, ya know? **And the lyrics are totally about Simon if you switch up the pronoun.

**Alexis has finally realised that Simon isn't just weird, he was kinda **_**made **_**weird through people and in the hasty pique of her realisation and guilt and personal****memories, has decided to try and help him out and be his friend. This can only mean good things for the two of them… right? H-xo**


	8. Chapter 7

**Chapter Seven: X-Ray Vision**

Now came the difficult part. Alexis had to – in some way or another – befriend Simon

Simon: the victim, the recluse, the socially inept. The boy who would rather hide than talk, frown than smile, worry than enjoy. And she, Alexis, a girl too caught up in herself who somehow had to help him, to tame him, this boy who acted like a frightened animal around people; a boy who reminded her of a domesticated animal forced into acquiring old, feral instincts in an attempt to protect itself from further harm. (Or maybe what she really needed to do was to stop thinking about him in bizarre, clichés similes and metaphors.)

Either way - all she knew, all that mattered was that, from now on, she had to be – no, she _wanted _to be – his friend, his comrade, his escape because nobody was supposed to be completely alone in the world.

They said each journey starts with one small step - was this walk home theirs?

Alexis could only hope and imagine it was, because she knew this was likely to be one of the hardest, densest things she was to ever try and accomplish… if only she could have seen into the future and known it was to be one of, if not _the_, most worthwhile things in her life.

And for it to work out the way she wanted, Simon couldn't find out, couldn't know, couldn't keep seeing through her the way he had before. Her objective would only freak him out and make him think she was using him for something – and maybe deep down inside she was. (Helping someone who had no one meant _you'd_ always have someone, right? The friendless always want a friend.)

If this was their first step, she hoped it wouldn't be a reflection of the journey.

The conversation was slow and stilted and ironically, down to her. She couldn't help it though. Continuously, she found herself zoning out, trying desperately to imagine a scenario or a time in which he would be comfortable around her, one where she could be comfortable with _him_.

Alexis liked to think that nowadays she had a decent group of friends who she cared for - still, none of them, not one, could honestly boast the privilege of knowing all of her. So why was it when he glanced at her uncertainly, trying to coax her into further conversation with carefully chosen, awkwardly-laced words that she found herself wanting to throw all her secrets towards him and the wind? To be a new her, the _real _her?

Before she knew it they were stopping outside her home and she was internally cursing herself for being so wrapped up in herself. Way to go. What a great way to start this new undertaking.

Simon let out a nervous cough to get her attention. She glanced at him and he fixed his eyes determinedly onto her house behind her as he spoke:

"I really… I really like walking you home."

Alexis smiled at his uncomfortable sweetness, determinedly forcing herself to stay with him in this moment as she said what she hoped wouldn't deter a growth in their forming relationship, "It's not my home for much longer."

"It's not?"

She nodded, "I'm moving out soon."

Simon didn't say anything more, he merely continued watching her with a look that clearly said he wanted her to expand but that he didn't have the nerve to ask so Alexis took pity on him (guilt-tripped a little by her earlier – unintentional – detachment) and did so.

"Well, I'd originally been planning to go to uni and stuff – I had my UCAS all filled out and conditionals waiting for me and everything – but then… then I got arrested… so obviously I couldn't go anymore because I had all this to sort out. And with all the tuition fees rising and the fact that I now have a criminal record, I really kinda doubt I'll get in anyway. But I still _really _wanna move out from my mum's house… so I have. I have one of the council flats near the community centre. It's just over the lake actually."

And suddenly she was glowing with pride, grinning a secret smile in satisfaction at this turn in her own story; a smile so hopeful and exhilarated at the prospect of having her own four walls around her to do what she wanted with, that he could tell she was expecting this to be a new beginning for her: the opening to her _real, real, true life_.

He smiled at her optimism, finding it quite endearing, and like a moth to a flame he found himself sucked in by that smile. He had always been too much of a pessimist at heart.

* * *

Alexis sat on both her hands and one of the cold, uncomfortable plastic chairs in the Community Centre's main hall while gazing, unseeingly, out over the room and the four others in it. All were in their orange jumpsuits and all, in varying degrees, annoyed at having to wait for Nathan to join them so they could finally get started on setting out the rest of chairs for another 'old person party' tomorrow.

Alisha was staring at herself in one of the glass windows, fluffing up her frizzy hair ever further before turning to face them all, a triumphant smirk in place because God damn, she was hot and she knew it.

Curtis stood a little way off from her, hands in his pockets and kicking a sneaker against the floor as his eyes found themselves incessantly glancing towards her, then at the sky outside, then back at his own feet.

Kelly was wrapping the ends of her ponytail around her fingers and twirling it, as she sneakily tried practicing her powers by honing in on each of their thoughts. It kept tuning in and out fuzzily, like a broken radio signal, but there was nothing special there anyway, just the normal, useless words of a bunch of young offenders trying to grow accustomed to being a group of… something's: friends? Superheroes?

And Simon was a few feet from Alexis, stood up and flicking through his phone, as was usual for him. His fingers hovered over the play button for the video he had took only a few days ago, the one of the group of them walking back from litter picking when Alexis had first laughed and smiled at him like they were friends. In reflex, a small (genuine) smile of his own flickered over his mouth at the memory and for some reason, it caught Alexis' attention.

Pretty, pretty, pretty. Dear lord, he had amazingly pretty eyes. Hypnotic almost, and so much lovelier than her own. Especially when he smiled; they'd crinkle up at the corners and flash so brightly in the light.

A sliver of something seemed to trickle down her spine, cold and prickly and not altogether unpleasant but still more than a little weird. Would she have even noticed it if not for the deathly silence of the room? She shivered.

Simon glanced at her due to her movement, then found himself quickly double-taking her. What the…?

"Your… your eyes." Simon's hand shook a little as he pointed it at her, a confused, scared look on his face that was contagious and had her stomach knotting and twisting itself into bizarre patterns as she rushed to take out her compact.

"What about her eyes? This isn't the time to be trying and getting your smooth on." Nathan scolded as he (finally) walked into the room just as Alexis caught sight of her reflection and what had Simon so shook. She gasped aloud.

"They're blue." Simon stated matter-of-factly.

"Wh-what the fuck? What's going on?"

The others didn't seem to catch onto the fact that her eyes had mysteriously changed colour at some point, instead they looked from her pale face to Simon's half-confused, half-fascinated one, blank looks on their own as they circled in closer to her.

"Am I missing something?" Alisha crossed her arms, un-amused at not knowing what the fuck they were talking about.

"My eyes – they're not… they're brown." Alexis' face had blanched to a sickly hue as she shot to her feet, compact clenched tightly in her fist, while the others looked even more puzzled.

"No… they're blue." Curtis said slowly as if he was dealing with a slow child, a concerned edge to his voice. He could really do without these two going crazy too.

"B-but they're-"

"They're meant to be brown." Simon flicked through his phone quickly, pushing it open and brandishing it towards them so they could all crowd around the screen in curiosity. On the screen was a close up shot of her face mid-laugh, taking at a three quarter profile and zooming heavily in on her eyes so they stood out a deep brown against her pale skin.

Realisation slowly dawned on them.

"So ya eyes… they ain't meant to be…?"

"_No_!" The words left Alexis in a harsh screech of both fear and frustration, her hands now clenched tightly into fists by her sides, so confused as to why her eyes had changed colour that she didn't even think to question Simon as to why he would have a photograph of her on his phone. Kelly however wasn't as willing to let it fly, sending him a look with one eyebrow raised that clearly said: _that's stalkerish and a little weird. _

Shoving his phone into his pocket, he flushed slightly, glancing off to the side as the others crowded further around Alexis' trembling form. And the more agitated she seemed to get, the weirder it got.

Curtis placed his hand gently against her cheek, tilting her head up so he could see her better and when their gazes locked, her eyes seemed to fizzle, dissolve, solidify before his own into something new: almond shaped cat-eyes, a dark bottle green and scared (and, weirdly, not too dissimilar from his own). The change had occurred so swiftly, so bizarrely, that he doubted he would have noticed it had her irises stayed the same colour; it appeared so strangely natural.

"Woah. Did you guys…?"

"What?" She mumbled, shaking into his palm and looking from face to face in a desperate plea for information. The others shared a look of surprise and _did you see that?_

"Your eyes just changed again." Nathan whispered in awe, blinking to make sure he wasn't imagining things.

"Why would they do that?" She burbled, growing paler as Curtis took his hand away.

Then it clicked.

"I think… I think you can change your appearance." Simon said slowly and carefully, staring straight at her and yet, with a faraway look on his face like he was seeing straight _through_ her as he constructed and slotted each piece of the puzzle around her together in his mind.

"Wh-what?" she whimpered, eyes growing ever wider at the thought, the evidence that maybe she _had _got a power too.

_Be careful what you wish for because you just might get it. _

"Why the fuck would she be able to do that?" Nathan snapped, rounding on him as the other five turned to face him too, obviously looking for him to supply some sort of an answer.

Simon flushed a little more under all their gazes, shrugging his shoulders tightly and mumbling (falsely):

"I dunno. I just… it just makes sense. Try it."

He said the last words to Alexis and she nodded firmly, pushing all her anxiety and fear deep down inside her because really, was this the weirdest thing to happen in the past two weeks?

"… I'm not really sure how I did it though."

"Fan-fucking-tastic." Alisha groaned, rolling her eyes at Alexis' uselessness.

"Sorry, but you don't exactly know how to do your shit either, right, yeah?" Kelly retorted, eyebrows pulled together in annoyance. Alisha shot her a sour look back.

Alisha's annoyance and Kelly's defence only resolved Alexis' desire to prove Simon right, to prove herself right, to prove to them all that she had a bloody power too.

… But did she?

She closed her eyes. It must have happened in the last half hour because when she was in the locker room, she was distinctly autumn-eyed. So what had she done since then? Not much. Waited for Nathan. Daydreamed about her new flat. Got sucked in by Simon's striking eyes. Aha! If she really did have a power to change her appearance, that must have been the trigger.

_Brown eyes. Brown eyes. Brown eyes. My eyes._

Still chanting in her head, her eyelids flickered open, waiting for someone to deny or consent that what Simon had just proposed was true. On cue, everyone's faces grew slack in surprise as earth-brown eyes met theirs - everyone but for Simon, who grinned secretly to himself in happiness at his own intelligence, in gladness for Alexis being 'gifted' too.

These powers were going to change their worlds.

"So is it like, is it just eyes, yeah? Or can you do, ya know, other things?" Curtis said, tilting his head to the side and regarding the smaller girl in interest.

Shrugging, she focused her eyes onto his wider nose and fuller lips and concentrated, and with another sliver of ice down her spine, found everyone looking at her in a mixture of admiration and shock.

"Nice…" Nathan drawled at the blossoming of her new features. So Alexis had a power too, huh? That meant he was on his own then… originally, he thought this seclusion would bother him a little more because before, it had felt like they were their own special duo against the other's weird group. However, he couldn't have been too bothered because he was soon imagining the good use she could put this power to: new big, blowjob lips… huge, squishy breasts… flawless, creamy skin…

He only snapped out of his dirty fantasies when Kelly's hand cracked him around the back of the skull. (_Curse_ _her and her telepathy!_ he thought, only for her to raise her hand again in a warning sign that he flinched away from.)

Pouting, he pulled out his (Ruth's) phone.

"Now if we're all done celebrating princess, here, joining you lot in Specials 'R Us, I have something to show you all." He waved his phone eagerly but Curtis and Alisha had already walked away, ignoring him after briefly congratulating Alexis on joining the club.

Kelly rolled her eyes, sighing:

"Go on then. Show me whatever it is you've got."

Alexis moved over to the pile of chairs nearest to her as Nathan and Kelly carried on talking, her brain whirring at a hundred miles an hour to catch up with all of this. She had a power. She had a power too. She had a fucking power too! Relief flooded through her and made her skin tingle as she reached for a chair, grinning over at Simon to her right for helping her figure it out; she mouthed him a quick '_thanks_' and he half-shrugged, half-inclined his head embarrassedly, grinning back nonetheless just as Nathan threw an arm around him and shoved a phone in his face.

"Cock, anus, ball-sack… yeah?"

Usually a conversation like that would draw any normal person in, but today, at this moment in time with her newest, greatest revelation on her mind, it all went right over Alexis' head.

She was a real life superhero now.

* * *

Later, Alexis found herself in the locker room with Alisha and Kelly, still mulling over the adventure of today. The other two girls were talking about the night before as they undressed, and with a small smile, sliding down the zipper of her own suit, Alexis was pleased at the thought of finally being included in their group too.

There was nothing like feeling you belonged – even if it was over something as weird as superpowers with a group of unexpected youth-criminals.

Three orange boiler suits dropped almost in sync.

Maybe if she hadn't been in such a daze, Alexis would have felt the usual sting and slap of self-evaluation and dislike as she compared herself to them, but today, she was in too much stunned surprise to even think about their differences; all her head could repeat was _you have a power, you have a power. _

Even better? Her power meant she'd never have to feel second best to any other girl again. From here on out, she could be a new her, a perfect her with flawless skin, a smaller nose, bigger eyes, plumper lips – oh god! – there was so much to do, so much to change. Where did she even start?

She smiled as she imagined what this new, improved Alexis would be, not knowing some people preferred her just the way she was – flaws and all – including, but not exclusive to, the five others on community service. They were too fucked up for perfection; errors and fuck-ups were their kinda thing.

Alexis shivered briefly at the feel of something like warm breath at the back of her neck, yet when she turned around there was nothing to indicate any foul play. Turning back to her locker, she pulled out her jeans. Geez, the draughts in this place needed sorting; she could just feel goose bumps erupting all over her skin.

The other two were still talking, something about shagging people, and to be honest, that was not Alexis' cup of tea nor a conversation she really wanted to join in with. Not because she was a virgin – she wasn't – but because she didn't like people knowing those kind of little intimate details about herself, because that's what they were, they were intimate and saved purely for the best of friends. It also didn't help that she definitely didn't want to share experiences she'd rather forget and move on from with these two. New beginnings and all that…?

Kelly and Alisha soon left without so much as a goodbye, still chatting to themselves as Alexis shoved her feet into her ballet pumps. Gathering up her vest in her hands, she was just about to lift her arms to pull it over her head when she was distracted by the feather-light stroke of fingertips against her hip. She shivered again, more dramatically, whipping her head around so fast her hair spun out around her. Again, nothing there.

And that's when it clicked: Simon.

She scrambled to get her shirt on, flushing at the thought of him seeing her shirtless like that unbeknownst to her. Yeah, sure, the boys and the girls got changed in the same room at the same time, usually, but she could accommodate that by sucking in her stomach really hard and performing a trapeze act of putting one article of clothing on while the other was only semi-off.

She felt exposed.

"S-Simon?"

He froze, breath hitching. Shit, shit, shit.

Wide-eyed, she wrung her hands together, staring blindly around for him as he quietly, stealthy fled from the room as quickly as he could. Back pressed against the doorframe, he counted to twenty in his head to try and calm his breathing as he waited for something else from her in the room.

All was quiet.

Then she said his name again, softer, more hesitant as ideas that maybe she had just imagined it floated through her mind. The repetition of those five letters brought him back to visibility – was it something to do with her or was it something to do with him when he did? Was it acknowledgement or fear that made him opaque again?

Okay. He could do this. He could face her – face her with her insecurities that he could read so easily on her face like he was looking through glass, like he was looking at a mirror.

Slowly he entered the room, trying desperately to look like he was innocently wandering in, and even harder to keep the guilt from his face. He was thankful she was less observant and a little spooked; it made it all the easier to feign incorruptibility and hide the dark thoughts he had just had.

"Hi." He said slowly, avoiding her eyes and walking to his locker.

She shot him a nervous smile, tilting her head a little to the side as if she was trying to read him – or maybe he was just paranoid.

"Hey. Crazy day, huh?" Kneeling down, she began routing through her backpack in the hopes of finding her newest powder foundation.

Now was the time. He had to ask her now or he'd never have the nerve to again. And really, was it any of his business? No. No, he knew it wasn't but still, there was something inside of him that wanted to know, wanted to show her she was not as carefully constructed and closed off as she might hope. Every action she made was simply another page to her already open book… to him, anyway.

"Why do you… why do you _think _you got that power? The power to change yourself."

Alexis shot him a grin as she stood herself up, "Maybe it's 'cause I like Tonks? Ya know, from Harry Potter? So maybe the storm thought it would be awesome to let me be her."

That didn't settle with Simon though. With stern, serious (X-ray vision) eyes, he stated simply: "It's because you don't like the way you look, isn't it?"

That smile fell from her face quickly to be replaced with embarrassment, or maybe it was anger, as a flush crept over her cheeks. Nervously, she began fumbling with her fingers, unsure of what exactly to say to that. How could he see through her so easily when people she had known for years couldn't, hadn't, wouldn't?

If she admitted this now – her biggest weakness, her biggest fear – out loud, she'd never be able to take it back. Was she ready for that? If people know your Achilles' heel, they always find a way to turn it against you; from then on, they know just where to shoot their arrows to make it hurt.

His eyes were so blue though; so pale and so concerned and so true that it didn't really matter what she was going to say in reply because he already knew. Damn. This boy was kind of scary. Parts of her detested being near him _because_ he could see straight through her; other parts revelled in the freedom that brought.

She opened her mouth once, twice before she settled instead for a clumsy nod.

He smiled sadly at her and nodded once in understanding, sympathy, empathy combined before turning to leave.

He was barely out of the door before he had turned invisible and spun right back around so he could watch her, so he could stand right behind her, invisible to both her and the mirror, and watch her shift her face into that of a hundred stranger's.

* * *

'_You see right through me:_

_How d'you do that shit? How d'you do that shit?_

_(Stop. Stop. Won't you just stop looking right through me 'cause I can't take it?_

… _no, I can't take it.)'_

Right Thru Me – Nicki Minaj

* * *

**And to finish up, a nice bit of Ms Minaj. Ahhh ;) Anyway! Thank you for reading, as well as all your reviews/favourites/alerts. They mean so much to me, so please, keep 'em coming. :) **

**And I'm sorry if anyone thinks their relationship, friendship, romance is blossoming too slowly, I'm just trying really hard to keep him in character. Keep in mind, this is Simon we're talking about. He be a little odddddddddd. **

**Woo! And finally, her power! I'm sorry if it's an anti-climax. I didn't ever plan for her to have a super bad-ass power (so she doesn't) and the only reason I held out so long on it was because I couldn't fit it into the story properly (because really, I suppose it could have happened when the others all found out theirs, but no one would have been able to tell so what use would that have been?). Anyway, thanks for taking part! :) H-xo**


	9. Chapter 8

**Chapter Eight: Move Along**

That night was the first since the storm in which Alexis and Simon didn't walk home together. Or sporadically text each other throughout the evening. Or meet up on Facebook for a chat.

Instead, Alexis walked home on her own, weighed down by the revelation of her new power and the overexposure it had brought with it. Loneliness and claustrophobia seemed to be looming over her, forming and mixing in her chest before developing into a tight, painful ache that seemed to grow bleaker with each step she took; the silence mimicked, growing steadily louder and louder with each step, forcing her further into herself and her thoughts and that chaotic mess within.

Part of her couldn't help but to imagine that it would all have been easier if Simon was here at her side to fill the gap he had forged for himself with his quiet thoughtfulness and constant company on these walks home. After only a week of doing so together and already it felt like she had lost her new shadow - no wonder everything seemed a little distorted without him. And yet another part was remarkably glad for his absence. This way he wouldn't be able to watch her: watch her and all her fear and confusion and hope play over her face, and figure her out even more.

She'd never been so torn before and the contradiction of it all was making her head spin.

Contradictions, contradictions, paradoxes: they seemed to be the foundation of her thoughts at this moment in time.

Her phone was a silent, heavy load in her pocket and its stillness had the tight feeling of isolation in her chest intensifying, making her twitchy and needy for some sort of reassurance. Right now contact or affection from anyone would have sufficed, but there was only one name ringing in her head, only one person she imagined helping. She needed normality; she needed someone who could understand what, and how much, had just changed in her life

Pulling her mobile from the confines of her jeans, she weighed it up in one palm, thumb working like a clockwork mechanism as it repeatedly scrolled down through her phonebook until it arrived at his name: _Nathan. _

Quickly, she tapped out a short, concise text message – ambiguous and unassuming – which she sent as soon as she was finished, before she could start to over think and try to take it back.

Because to Alexis, there was too much to fear and too much to lose from Nathan.

Sure, so Simon now knew her one, consuming flaw – her self-loathing - but that she could, and would learn to accept because he was sweet and genuine and was at least a little concerned for her and her wellbeing. And to be honest, he had his own shit to try and hold together.

But the thought of Nathan finding it out, figuring it out made her feel sick with anxiety because who knew what he'd do with the information? She'd already witnessed the way in which he treated Simon and who was she to be treated any differently by him? Because Nathan, he was the kind of person who hurt without knowing or understanding the true extent to the pain he caused, and if he attacked her with his bow-and-taunt assault, she just knew she wouldn't manage. Not because she wasn't used to people hurting her – she was – but because she never wanted him to see her that way or change the way he treated her.

All she wanted was for him to want her.

It was awful, she knew. Awful and selfish and vain, and almost a little desperate, because he was Nathan and mean and not the kind of boy you could bring home to ma and pa… but everything about Nathan – his charisma and confidence and hot appearance – just drew her in like a moth to a flame because they were everything that she wanted to own and everything that she wanted to be.

She bit her lip nervously, fiddling with the phone just as it vibrated in her hand. With butterflies in her belly she opened it up, feeling them intensify and a pleased, embarrassed smile bleed over her lips as she read Nathan's badly-spelt, incorrectly-grammared, shameless reply.

That night, in the place of the usual struggling words of Simon, Alexis luxuriated in the alternative that was Nathan's easy flirtations and the fact that at least someone, somewhere, seemed to want her. Even if that want was lust and nothing more.

* * *

It was another day at Community Service for Alexis or, more appropriately, enough chance for her to be coerced into dancing with OAPs.

Alexis shuffled self-consciously to the music, hating Sally for forcing her into doing this bloody _thing _again and yet, finding herself somehow still unable to stop the quirk of a smile that formed at the sight of a tiny old man before her. He held out one hand towards her courteously, smiling gently in an offer at a dance. She took it, and him, and allowed herself to be pulled into a classical ballroom hold, one of his hands politely on her waist, the other holding hers tightly as he led her in a rather awkward, but sweet, two-step to James Blunt.

The other five had also been roped back into entertaining: Simon was back to robot dancing, Kelly was throwing her guns about, Curtis was proving black people do indeed have rhythm, Alisha looked like she was out at a club and Nathan was firmly planted in one of the seats on the edge of the dance-floor, leaning forward with a pained expression on his face.

Alexis glanced over at him. Despite all his (heavy, _heavy_) flirtations with her last night which, to her shame, she had encouraged and returned - although admittedly to a lesser extent - he hadn't once mentioned it or hinted at it or even given her one of his trademark dirty grins like he was undressing her.

For the first time since she'd met him, he looked like he was thinking _seriously_ over something… or was that _worrying_? Was that the reason he was barely glancing her way, his eyebrows all screwed up and his lips sealed in a tight-lipped grimace, perhaps? What could possibly have happened?

Her imagination began running riot, the irrational part of her wondering whether it was her and her flirting that was making him look so ashamed and disturbed, while the rational side tried to argue back that _c'mon, this is Nathan. Nathan who would flirt with a sock if it had on some mascara. You're hardly likely to be the worse and/or the reason._ And she knew that - really, she did – but her belly still swooped with nerves and her brain still refused to stop focusing on that idea that it was her that was the cause (_on her full stop_).

It was just as her dance partner spun her around quickly, making the room a blur of people and shapes, that Nathan let out a disgruntled yell and shot out of the door.

When Alexis' world stopped spinning, he was long gone.

* * *

"Any idea where the prick could be then?" Curtis asked, swinging his litter picker at the ground as him, Alexis, Simon, Alisha and Kelly all wandered aimlessly through the estate closest to the Community Centre.

"No idea…" Alexis shrugged, gazing up at the taller boy as Simon shook his head and Alisha flat out ignored his question. Kelly however spoke up, her voice straining as she tried to perfect casual nonchalance, almost as if she was either still a little concerned that they wouldn't believe her or instead, that they'd start questioning how she did know (snooping in someone's thoughts was kinda frowned upon).

"He's under the highway… I think… I mean, ya know, it's just a guess but…"

She glanced at the other four expecting anything but the calm, almost blasé, looks they were all forcing onto their faces, each still unsure about their powers but none particularly ready to be the one to point it out first.

"Cool. Well we may as well head over there then, yeah? Just to check?" Curtis said to her, a small grin on his lips that she returned gratefully.

Alexis smiled at the two of them, noting how much more functional the group seemed to be without Nathan – functional, but nowhere near as amusing. Maybe in an attempt to create some in his absence, or maybe simply in an effort to get his attention, she prodded Simon in the calf with her litter picker, shooting him a pretty smile when he turned in bemusement.

A smile of his own seemed to melt over his semi-permanent frown at the sight.

* * *

Time passed between the five quickly as they walked to where they suspected (_knew_) Nathan would be hidden, laughing and talking and chattering away amiably between each other about little, to nothing of importance but feeling a little closer due to it regardless.

That is, until they spotted the hunched over figure of Nathan just ahead of them.

"Oi, what happened to you?" Curtis called out to him as the group descended down the slight slope to where he was.

Nathan glanced over at them as they approached, now dressed in their orange overalls with black bags and littler pickers in hand while a cigarette dangled in his own and he nibbled on his bottom lip, back pressed up against one of the concrete supports for the overhead highway. Great. Just great.

"I will not be in a room where that song is playing. Line in the sand, my friend."

By the time he'd finished speaking, they were all crowded around him. Alexis stood back a little more though, waiting for him to give the _real _reason for his disappearance and hoping it wasn't anything to do with her.

"Some old woman was looking for you." Kelly said, something like an accusation in her voice as she did so. Alexis didn't really blame her. Nathan didn't strike her as the kinda person who had anything to do with the elderly – unless it was robbing from them, 'cause that she could totally see.

He glanced off suspiciously to the side, eyes wide as he blew out one long stream of smoke as Kelly's face slowly rumpled into a look of disgust before widening in disbelief.

"You shagged her!" Kelly spat at him, grossed out at the thought.

_What the fuck? _

"Yeah. Yeah, nice one. I gave her a right good seeing to." Nathan retorted sarcastically but there was something about his protest that just didn't seem honest enough or firm enough to be true.

Alexis' face grew slack in disbelief and revulsion and, had she been able to look, she would have seen almost identical masks on the others as they each tried to compute what they had just been told: Nathan had fucked an old lady.

So that's what had happened last night.

Before, during or after his texts to Alexis, Nathan had decided to relieve himself and have sex with some other girl. Wait, no. Not just another girl but an old lady – a sixty plus year old lady – who in no way could have been any more attractive than her.

As Kelly made a long "eurgh" noise, Alexis' face flushed even more and nausea began churning in her belly in both a mixture of humiliation and disbelief. He had boned another girl while texting her. An old lady. Ewww. No freakin' way.

"You totally screwed her." Alisha said, a laugh bubbling out of her at the face he made as he weakly argued "No. No!" and shot to his feet.

"You nailed that old woman?" Curtis pointed his picker at him, lips curling in distaste, "Nah, that is wrong."

"Did you enjoy it?" Simon asked, the ghost of a smirk on his lips at provoking Nathan even further (and perhaps a little from being able to finally retaliate for everything he had previously done to him). Alexis would have been proud had she not been so repulsed and turned off by Nathan at that moment in time.

"Shut up, you little freak!" Nathan shouted, pointing angrily at him but even that didn't contain its usual force. Simon smiled a little wider and retorted:

"I think he enjoyed it."

"Are you into that?" Curtis demanded while Alisha laughed even louder.

"No!" Nathan cried out in exasperation. "She didn't look like that when we started, okay? Remember that bird Ruth, from Tuesday? Beautiful, yeah? That wrinkly old bint… that's her! It was the storm… it made her young again."

"Please. Please tell me you didn't…" Alisha brought two fingers up to her mouth and flickered her tongue between them, imitating oral sex while both Kelly and Alexis waited with bated (and disturbed) breath for his reply.

When his face crumpled, they both let out a disgusted gasp.

"He did! He did! God's sake!"

Both Alisha and Curtis couldn't help bursting into loud laughter at Nathan's embarrassment, and even Simon let out a few soft chuckles. Alexis however, could only watch blankly as he turned away from them and marched further off down the sloping dirt.

"Nathan. Nathan, wait! Look I didn't mean to tell them…" Kelly called out after him, jogging up to his retreating figure. He turned and said something angrily to her that Alexis couldn't hear over the distance before walking a few steps away, turning around and yelling:

"And stay out of my head, okay?"

Kelly was stumped for a reply, so instead she shrieked back:

"Granny fucker!"

"Hey, are you okay?" Simon asked Alexis softly in concern, touching her shoulder briefly after noting the chalk white of her skin and the frown creased into her eyebrows. She flinched at his touch.

"Y-yeah, I'm fine. Just… just feeling a little sick."

Part of Simon knew why, another part pretended not to.

* * *

"I told you there'd be other people who got messed up by the storm and _you _didn't even believe me." Kelly accused Nathan in annoyance, glaring at him before turning to the mirror in the changing room so she could reapply her lipgloss.

"Yeah, well, I was wrong, wasn't I?" Nathan admitted, leaning himself back on his locker. "There's a hurricane of weird shit out there."

"Us included." Alexis offered, pulling on her cardigan as Simon nodded in agreement and Curtis supplied a "yeah", grinning in amusement. Alisha shot her a slightly offended look at being called weird before facing Nathan to mime oral sex again, much to his 'pleasure'.

"Oh. Another oral sex gag. Brilliant."

A few seconds passed by in silence, Alexis checking her make up in her compact and Curtis pulling on his trainers, then Simon speaking up and, for the first time since she had met him, sounding sure of himself.

"We need to be ready for when they come after us."

"What are you talking about?" Kelly asked, puzzled.

"The other people who got caught up in the storm."

"Why would they come after us?" Curtis said in sincere bemusement at Simon's paranoia.

"Because that's what people do."

Right then and there, Alexis felt like her heart was breaking in pity for him. Really? That's what he thought people did? All her theories on him being hurt, and being this way, because of others were confirmed absolutely with one innocent sentence.

"Yeah, well, if they do, we'll just tell them it was all your fault." Nathan smirked as he spun back to his locker.

Alexis watched Simon's face fall slightly before tensing into a hard mask. And before she could stop herself, she was reaching out towards him, touching the shirt at his bicep and smiling sadly up at him with a look she hoped he would understand to mean _I would never hurt you._ He smiled gratefully at her, feeling her sentiment and touching her hand briefly with his own; the skin-on-skin contact seemed to produce a warm electricity that sparked between them but before either could be too surprised, Nathan spoke out to all of them.

"You know that note you found in your locker?" Everyone turned to face him curiously, including Simon and Alexis. "I think it _was _talking about the probation worker." Simultaneously, they all moved closer to the locker, eyes wide and frightened as they stared at Tony's picture and the threat of 'I KNOW'.

Instinctively Alexis reached out for Simon's hand. He took it and squeezed.

* * *

Community Service was done for the week and much to Simon's surprise (and Alexis' too), he had agreed to spend Sunday unpacking and helping her move into her new flat. He had agreed in a flurry of acceptance that took him over when he received her text, all excitement and _hey, I know you're probably really busy but d'you wanna come over on Sunday? Help me unpack my new flat? I'll cook you your tea x,_ and who was he to say no to that?

Flat 246. Six floors up one of the tower-blocks opposite the Community Centre, separated by the river and yet still close enough that you could see its squat, drab square from her front door and the open walkway.

And that's why he was now stood awkwardly at her new door, hands clenched in his pockets and eyes set determinedly on the white PVC that separated him from her –as if he was expecting it to magically open up and pull him inside. Seconds passed and still he hadn't worked up the nerve to reach forward and knock so instead he settled for sighing deeply, flattening his fringe and counting backwards from ten. Then he knocked.

"Simon, you came!" Alexis chirped happily, opening the door in a blaze of hair and smiles that took him by surprise.

He blinked dazedly. Someone sure was in a good mood. It was cute; it looked nice on her, setting her mouth almost permanently into a wide grin that seemed to glow on her face and made her eyes something more akin to a Christmas lantern than an Autumnal tree. Was moving that much of a weight of her shoulders? Was freedom really that liberating for her?

She ushered him inside with a quick wave of her hands and he complied, smiling softly and wiping his feet as he stepped over her new threshold. As she shut the door behind him, he quickly glanced around, figuring out the blueprint of the apartment with that razor-quick brain of his, helped slightly by the fact that it was the typical layout for the area.

He was currently stood in the hallway, a tiny cloakroom-come-broom cupboard to his left, followed by the boiler cupboard and then the okay-sized bathroom. On his immediate right was a closed door but, at a guess, what he imagined to be an almost-too-small-to-be-anything spare room, followed by the open door to the kitchen - complete with a cheap, plastic two-seater breakfast bar pressed up against the far wall. He walked forward into her living room, noting the open double doors that led out to the concrete balcony and threw reams of natural light into the space and the dust floating idly through the air. Her bedroom also stood to his right, her door open and allowing him a sneaky look at pale apple-green walls and a cream carpet and, guessing from the similar lighting of the room, another set of double doors leading to the long balcony. Throughout, boxes and furniture were littered carelessly around the laminated floor.

"You just missed my mum and Colin and Faya – oh, and Louise." Alexis said cheerily, bouncing past him so she could gaze out over the balcony and Simon wracked his memory for each person and their relationship to her. Colin – step-dad. Faya – younger sister. Louise – best friend. Done.

"Oh. That's an erm… shame?" He said sheepishly, kind of glad he didn't have to meet them; that would have been _beyond_ awkward for him because trying to impress people? Not exactly his forte.

"Uhuh." She turned around to face him, a hand set on the doorframe, "Anyway, I just kinda need your help moving the boxes to the right room? Is that cool?" Simon nodded and she moved away from the door to kneel by a box, opening it up and peeking inside. "Mum, Colin and me were already here all yesterday, moving my furniture and stuff. Colin works with lorries so he was able to borrow a van from one of his friends to help, and me and mum painted my bedroom." She nudged her head towards the door.

"It's nice." He said lamely, "I mean, it's great. Nice. Er…"

She laughed aloud, her good mood tinting her words. "Simon! You need to stop being so uptight. Just say what you wanna say, I'm not gonna judge you."

He smiled at her sincerity, feeling his tension slowly melt away from his jaw and his shoulder – and his tongue. Was this what it felt like to be with someone who truly liked you?

"O-okay… Sorry." He knelt opposite her, shedding his denim jacket and grabbing a box before pulling it towards him. Another deep breath and he did something he never did – he initiated conversation. "So… how did you meet Louise?"

She smiled at the significance of him asking the question, knowing how hard it was for him to relax, before starting the rather boring, cliché story of two girls meeting on the first day of sixth-form at the local grammar school.

* * *

By the time they were sat on the living room floor, cross-legged and just about to tuck into their tea, the sky outside had faded to a dusky pink, bleeding at the edges into the midnight blue of evening. The balcony doors were still open, allowing a soft spring breeze inside to stir at the furniture covers and gathering dust and the ends of their hair as she passed him his bowl of pasta.

He thanked her, spearing his fork into a few spirals hungrily. They had spent the last few hours moving a lot of boxes, unpacking a few less, shuffling furniture around and talking easily – a completely new concept to Simon. And he guessed that's why when he looked at her, hair pulled back into a messy bun and chewing quickly on her own food, he felt like he was looking at some sort of mythical creature.

She was a friend and this was friendship.

Alexis caught his eye and he quickly looked away, still a little shy, a little nervous around people despite their newly instated relationship and so he brought his fork to his mouth in an effort to stop the moment from being _too _awkward.

(Alexis felt nothing of the sort.)

Instead she grinned at him over their bowls, glad he had decided to come and help. When she had invited him, part of her was certain he wouldn't come due to his reclusive nature but still she had wanted to try and so she had sent him that text.

It just felt like, to her, as though he never left his room. Each time she asked him what he had done that weekend, evening, week, he simply replied with an offhand 'not much' and whenever she logged onto Facebook, he was always there on chat. Recently – the night she had sent the text - he had told her about talking to 'shygirl18': a randomer who had added him that he didn't know, and yet who he spoke of as if they were his closest thing to a friend – and that was a little weird to her. Surely he must have had someone other than a stranger? And so she had invited him, remembering her promise to be his friend and sure, they were definitely on their way, but inviting him over was just one more step up the ladder for them.

She motioned to his bowl.

"D'ya like it?"

"It's great, really great."

Okay, so that was a little of an exaggeration. The food was okay, it was edible, but when she smiled happily at him, a faint blush lining the apples of her cheeks, Simon decided it was a white lie _definitely _worth telling.

* * *

_They grew up in the same old town, never knowing the other was around._

_Read from the same damn books and never gave each other looks_

_But one day the sun will shine, I know, for their eyes have told me so._

Rush Together – Quiet Drive

* * *

**I am so sorry with how long it took for me to update this! But life decided to get in the way, what with exams and coursework and college and friends, and then I was hit with writer's block and the words would just not come out. **

**Anyway, thank you so much for all your reviews/alerts/favourites. They were the fuel for my continued efforts and I hope you guys keep them coming so this rocket can keep flying :) Hopefully the next chapter will be out soon but I am going to warn you – I still have a lot more exams to come so it may not be as quick as I'd like. And oh yeah! This story will soon be M-rated – you guys guessed that though, right? This is Misfits :) **

**Lastly, thoughts on Robert Sheehan leaving? I dunno about you guys but Nathan was like, a huge percent of that show and I'm absolutely gutted. Staying for Simon though. Obv. H-xo**


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